24-year-old woman arrested for filing fake rape complaint against Thane builder

Police have arrested a 24-year-old woman for allegedly filing a false rape complaint against a Thane-based builder last year.

In her statement to the police, Tulika Katare, who hails from Indore, had accused the 56-year-old real estate developer of raping her in a hotel room at Anjuna beach village in North Goa under the pretext of giving her a job.

“The woman was arrested yesterday following investigation in the case which revealed that the complaint against the builder was fake,” Anjuna police inspector Sanjay Dalvi told PTI on Sunday.

The complaint against Kishore Keswani was filed in March 2016, following which the realtor had filed for anticipatory bail before an additional sessions court at Mapusa in Goa, which was granted to him.

He had also filed a counter complaint against the woman and 11 others in October last year, accusing them of filing a false case against him to grab his property and extort money.

Dalvi said the police investigation revealed that the builder was in Mumbai when the alleged incident happened.

“We obtained the CCTV footage which shows his presence in Mumbai. Besides, his mobile phone location showed and other witnesses also claimed that he was not in Goa on the day when the woman accused him of rape,” he said.

The medical report of the woman was also negative, he said. The hotel staff also failed to identify Keswani during the identification parade.

Katare was produced before a judicial magistrate at Mapusa on Saturday. She has been remanded in police custody for seven days.