The wife of underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Riyaz Bhati has reportedly filed an application with the Mumbai police accusing her husband of rape and running a high-profile sex racket. In the requisition, besides naming her husband, the other people she has accused of rape are Indian cricketers, a senior Congress leader and one other individual.
Rehnuma Bhati alleged that her husband, Riyaz Bhati, a suspected gangster, pushed her to have sexual relations with his business associates and other “high-profile” individuals.
“I have been trying to get the police to register an FIR, but they aren’t complying. My application was submitted in September, it is already November now,” she told The Print, adding: “I have followed up with various levels of police authorities multiple times. I was told to give some money, but why should I spread corruption? I am right in my place. They are the ones who are criminals.”
Asked for his comment on the matter, Deputy Commissioner of Police for the jurisdiction, Manjunath Singhe, acknowledged that an application has been submitted, but said he “does not have any more details at the moment”.
Social media user, Sameet Thakkar has taken to Twitter to share a copy of the complaint filed by Riyaz Bhati’s wife in Santacruz, Mumbai Police Station on September 24, 2021.
According to the screenshots posted by Sameet Thakkar, the complaint was filed for offences committed under IPC sections 406, 420, 354, 354(A), 354(B), 509, 370, 376, 376(D), 377, 356, 386, 506(II)232, r/w 120(B), sections 66(A), 66(E) of the Information and Technology Act 2000, sections 8 and 6 of the POCSO Act 2012, Sections 4, 5, and 6 of the Indecent Representation of the Women’s Act and sections 5B and 5C for the Immoral Traffic (Protection) Act 1956.
In the complaint, the victim alleged that her husband threatened her widow mother and compelled her to marry underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s alleged aide Riyaz Bhati when she was 15-years-old. She further added that immediately after the marriage, Riyaz Bhati forcefully established a sexual relationship with her.
She further accused Riyaz Bhati of torturing and also physically assaulting her on various occasions.
She further added that Riyaz Bhati started forcing her to honeytrap his business associates. He forced her to engage in sexual activities with his business partners and beat her up and tortured her whenever she tried to resent, she alleged.
Rehnuma Bhati further revealed in her complaint that in the year 2011-12, her husband introduced her to one individual in Trident hotel, where the latter raped her one entire night. When she came back home and sought answers from her husband for the inhumane treatment he placed a knife on her and her elder son’s neck and threatened to kill them if she did not submit to his demands.
In her complaint, Rehnuma Bhati also accused two Indian cricketers and a senior Congress leader of raping her. She wrote that she was forced to sleep with one cricketer in a continental hotel, and with another cricketer in a hotel named Trident. According to the complaint, the cricketer and his two friends committed all kinds of unnatural sexual activities with her including oral sex and anal sex, and all of them were drunk.
The woman further alleged that when she refused to sleep with the Congress leader, she was beaten by the leader and his friends. She was also forced to dance nude without clothes in front of him and his friends, after which she was raped by them. She added that the Congress leader kept photos and videos of this first encounter in 2012-13, and used the same to continue to exploit her.
Riyaz Bhati’s wife alleged that her husband has forced her to sleep with 15 to 20 people, which includes his business partners, friends and high-profile individuals. Allegedly, Bhati got several contracts by forcing her to sleep with other people. She also alleged that she was even sent to Dubai to sleep with rich sheikhs, and she was treated very badly there. She said that her husband is continuously forcing her to continue the prostitution work for money and other benefits. Bhati’s wife alleged that he had raped her sister also.
Rehnuma Riyaz Bhati has informed that due to this torture, she had started living separately in 2016, but later he kidnapped her and again forced her into prostitution from 2019. He had threatened that he will kill her or their two sons if she does not sleep with others as per his instructions.
ANI has reported now that though no FIR has been filed, Mumbai Police has said that they are investigating the case, however, they have found no evidence so far.
Update: an earlier copy of this report mentioned the names of a senior Congress leader and some cricketers as having been accused of rape. The same names were widely reported by other mainstream media outlets such as Hindustan, ABP News, Deccan Herald, Lokmat, Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, ThePrint, and others. Within a day or two, all of these named media companies have either deleted their news reports or removed the name of the senior Congress leader from their published reports. Our attempts to get an official reaction from Mumbai police has not been successful either, as they don’t want to say anything or record, though it is confirmed that such a complaint was indeed filed. In such a scenario, where the police are unwilling to officially confirm the names of the accused while the primary media sources have either deleted their news reports or retracted the names, this copy is also being updated to retract the names. We will keep the readers updated.
