Police in Rural Bengaluru on June 17 arrested a gram panchayat member accused of raping a woman at gunpoint in his farmhouse, media reports said. The accused has been identified as one Ahmed Pasha, who is a member of Bilwaradahalli Gram Panchayat in Bannerghatta. The Hindu reported that he has been booked under sections of rape and blackmail under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act. The report quoted a police official saying that they are verifying if the gun recovered from the accused is licensed, illegal or duplicate. Police have also arrested the accused’s driver Wahid, who allegedly drove the survivor to the accused’s farmhouse. He also took the survivor's two children out during the crime, said the report. Bangalore Mirror reported that the woman had lodged a complaint with the police on June 16 evening detailing her allegations based on which the police made the arrests. 

The reports further said that the accused had befriended the survivor over social media and offered to help her during the lockdown. He had posed as a councilor who was helping out the poor in the lockdown. Promising her a modeling job, Pasha called the woman home on Monday on the pretext of a meeting. A senior police officer was quoted in The Hindu as saying that as the woman brought her two children along, Pasha asked Wahid to take the children out for snacks. The BM report said that the woman took her children along as she was apprehensive about meeting the stranger.

In addition to raping the woman at gunpoint, Pasha allegedly took photos of the woman and threatened that he will distribute the photos if the woman spoke about the crime with anyone including the police. The BM report said that the woman was also asked to comply with his further instructions to meet him again.