House owner rapes student from Bengal in Karnataka; arrested

A house owner was arrested in Bengaluru on charges of raping a student who was his tenant by threatening her with a pistol, police said on Monday, May 23. Anil Ravishankar Prasad, the accused, who works in the tiles business, has been arrested. The young woman who hailed from West Bengal and was a student at a private college was staying in a rented accommodation since March. According to reports, the accused often objected to the woman’s friends visiting her, leading to frequent arguments between the two.
One day, Prasad noticed that a male friend of the woman had stayed the night and locked his bike. He then reportedly sent the man away, threatening to lodge a police case against him. He even told them that it was the police who had locked his bike and that they would book a human trafficking case against them. According to reports, the accused even threatened to inform her parents in West Bengal about this incident, and kept intimidating her.
On April 11, the accused, who had gone to her house on the pretext of discussing the issue, allegedly took out a pistol he was carrying and placed it on her head. He then allegedly raped her. The woman finally opened up about the incident with her parents recently. The parents, who had come down from West Bengal, lodged a complaint with the Ashok Nagar police on Sunday. An investigation into the matter is underway.
The woman is a 20-year-old student pursuing a BA degree in the city, and the accused is a 46-year-old businessman hailing from Bihar, who lives with his wife and children. The tenant’s complaint stated that the accused allegedly barged into her room, threatened her with a licensed revolver, and raped her. The police have taken the landlord into custody, and seized his revolver.