According to an official statement, Navsari police in Gujarat have arrested a 37-year-old Muslim man on charges of raping and blackmailing a girl for nearly five years. The accused, Asim Nizam Shaikh, was apprehended near Mumbai on Tuesday in what the police described as a case of "love jihad." The term "love jihad" is used by right-wing activists to allege a conspiracy of converting Hindu girls to Islam through marriage.
The police stated that Nizam Shaikh allegedly raped the girl for the first time when she was 16 years old, capturing the act on video, which he then used to blackmail her. In order to avoid being caught, Nizam Shaikh, who is already married and has children, forced the victim to marry his associate Ronak Patel. Ronak Patel, who was in custody for a murder case, was recently released on parole and is currently evading apprehension.
Upon the victim's complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against both individuals at Khergam police station on June 23 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as sections 376(2)(n) and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertain to rape and criminal intimidation, respectively. The Information Technology Act was also invoked.
After the FIR was registered, Shaikh and Patel went into hiding. However, the police later discovered that Shaikh had traveled from Jaipur to Mumbai and was staying in a hotel in Vasai. He was apprehended there on Tuesday and brought back to Navsari. A POCSO court granted the police custody of Shaikh for nine days.
Over the course of five years, Nizam Shaikh, a resident of Khergam, allegedly extorted the girl and her family by exploiting the videos he had recorded.
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