PUNE: A 22-year-old woman working as a data scientist in an IT firm was allegedly drugged and raped inside her 11th-floor rented flat in Kondhwa on Wednesday evening by a man pretending to be a courier delivery agent. The assailant also blackmailed her using a manipulated selfie and a threatening message.
The accused, who claimed he was delivering a bank parcel, gained access to the flat around 7:15 pm. When the woman went inside to fetch a pen to sign the delivery slip, the man forcibly entered, locked the door, and sprayed a chemical on her face, rendering her unconscious. She later regained consciousness around 8:30 pm and immediately alerted her relatives, who contacted the police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IV) Rajkumar Shinde confirmed that the intruder used the victim’s phone to take a selfie with her while she was unconscious. He then cropped out his own face and typed a threatening message warning her not to report the crime, stating he would upload the image on social media if she did.
The survivor, who holds a BE in data science, has been living with her younger brother in the society since 2022. Her brother, however, had gone to their hometown in Akola at the time of the incident, leaving her alone in the flat.
Police said the accused did not sign the society’s visitor register nor was he captured entering or exiting on the CCTV footage from the society’s entrance. The gated complex has three wings (A, B, and C), two security guards per shift, and a mobile-based visitor management system. However, officials suspect the attacker may have slipped in under the guise of making multiple legitimate deliveries, which doesn’t always require multiple logins in the security app.
DCP Shinde added, “We have collected the victim’s phone, which contains the edited selfie and the threatening message. She has been admitted to a government hospital for medical examination, and forensic teams are analyzing the chemical substance used on her.”
A spot panchnama has been conducted, and forensic experts have collected evidence from the flat. Although a dog squad was deployed, it failed to pick up a scent trail. Authorities are now examining technical leads and questioning residents and guards.
Ten investigation teams from Kondhwa police and the Pune city crime branch have been formed to track the culprit. So far, police are verifying identities of ten delivery agents — from courier, e-commerce, and food services — who visited the society on Wednesday.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told TOI, “We’ve taken oral and nasal swabs from the survivor to identify the chemical substance used. Given the serious nature of this case, we are using all our resources to track the suspect swiftly.”
A senior society office-bearer said the survivor and her brother were well-regarded by fellow residents and paid rent regularly. He explained that although the society uses a visitor tracking app and has CCTV coverage in the passageways, entrance, and parking areas, the attacker might have exploited a loophole by piggybacking on a multi-delivery entry that didn’t require separate approval for each flat.
The police have registered a case under sections 64 (rape), 77 (voyeurism), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Investigators remain tight-lipped but confident about making an arrest soon.
