Juhu apparel store staffer held for raping his colleague

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old man working for an apparel store was arrested recently for allegedly raping a woman colleague inside the establishment. The accused, Vikas Verma, is a resident of Vakola pipeline locality, the police said.
The woman, also aged 22, is a south Mumbai resident. Due to the ongoing pandemic, she had moved to her aunt's place in central Mumbai two months ago. She works at the apparel store's Santacruz branch.
Last Wednesday, she was at work when her superior asked her to head over to another branch on Juhu Tara Road as a lone employee was working there. Around 2.20 pm, the woman went over to the Juhu branch. The woman later told the police that Verma had tried to get too friendly with her and that he had also asked her to get into a relationship with him.
According to her complaint, Verma claimed that civic staff harassed attendants of shops, asking them to shut. He downed the shutters, switched off all lights and CCTV cameras at the store before raping the woman inside the outlet around 6.15pm, the police said.
The woman later returned to her aunt's residence and approached the Dharavi police station the next day.
A case of rape has been registered at Dharavi police station and it has been transferred to the Santacruz police station. Verma was arrested the on Thursday.