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MUMBAI: In a shocking incident, an Antop Hill tantrik was arrested by the JJ Marg police on Sunday evening for allegedly raping three teenaged girls from south Mumbai over a period of four years. The oldest victim, aged 19, is from the Crawford Market area and a commerce student in a reputed south Mumbai college. The second victim, aged 18, is from Colaba and an MBBS student. The third victim, a Class V student, is only 13 years old and a resident of the JJ Marg area.

The two older girls had been forced by the tantrik, Javed Nadim Khadim alias Mehdi Hasan, 45, to undergo abortions, according to the FIR. The arrest brought back memories of the horrific rapes of two Mira Road sisters by an Andheri tantrik, Hasmukh Rathod, who was arrested in March 2009. In the present case, all three girls are cousins.

"The police arrested Khadim under Section 376 (rape) and Section 312 (causing miscarriage) of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in the Mazgaon court on Monday," said Chhering Dorji, deputy commissioner of police. Hasan originally belongs to West Bengal and is the father of two children.

Khadim took advantage of the girls after befriending the families to perform black magic for the mothers.

He was picked up in dramatic fashion after he had telephoned the 19-year-old on Saturday saying he was going to visit her at her home in Crawford Market. The girl, having had enough, alerted her family for the first time, who then contacted the MRA Marg police. Plainclothes policemen surrounded the family’s building, but they received a frantic call from the girl upstairs saying Khadim had already reached the house. On rushing upstairs, the police found that Khadim had concealed himself under a burqa.

A source close to the family told TOI, "Initially, he befriended the girls’ mothers. One of the victims’ mothers had some domestic problem and she approached Khadim. He solved the problem in a couple of months and began visiting her house at Colaba, where she showed that she trusted him. Over a period of time, the woman’s sister, who is 42, also had some problem and they approached Khadim again. Her domestic problems were also ’solved’ by the tantrik." The source added that it was in 2006 that the tantrik began developing ties with the families.

"He would visit their places at odd times. While one of the mothers was a divorcee, the other’s husband worked as a captain in the merchant navy and would be on board most of the time," the source added. The 13-year-old’s father is in the merchant navy, while the 18-year-old’s father is a doctor who treats patients with piles.

"When he would visit the victims’ houses, he would bring some medicine in syrup form. He would force the girls to drink and they would lose consciousness. The 19-year-old victim had to be hospitalized in Habeeb Hospital at Dongri so she could have an abortion," alleged the source. The 18-year-old girl had to be subjected to abortions thrice, according to the police FIR.

The two teenagers told the police that they could not bear the assaults by Khadim any longer and told their fathers on Saturday night. "The girls were scared. Khadim had threatened them that if they told anyone he would perform some black magic on them. However, they told the truth to their fathers, who approached the police," the source said.

Khadim, whose wife stays in the Antop Hill slums, would rent rooms in the south Mumbai area to conduct his black magic business. He allegedly took the girls to these rooms to conduct his crimes. Sources in the girls’ families alleged that he once raped a victim at a flat in the jurisdiction of the MRA Marg police. Another girl was raped at Amina Apartment in the jurisdiction of the JJ Marg police, the families said. One girl was raped at Rehmat Mansion in the jurisdiction of the Dongri police.

The FIR was first registered by the MRA Marg police and was then transferred to the JJ Marg police. The families had to approach Nawal Bajaj, the additional commissioner of police (south), to seek his help in exposing the tantrik.

The girls were on Sunday taken for medical examinations to the Nagpada police hospital. "Perhaps he had been giving them emergency contraceptive pills after the abortions," a source said.

The girls were so traumatized that they could not relate their stories to the cops. The statements were recorded in the presence of women police personnel.

There are further allegations that the tantrik also sought to financially swindle the families. The mother of one victim got Rs 40 lakh from the sale of a property belonging to her NRI father, who stays in London and deals in antique coins. Khadim asked her to invest the money by buying a flat near Gloria Church in Byculla (East). She invested the money but the tantrik got the flat registered in his name. He also took Rs 60 lakh from the father of the 18-year-old so he could get her admission in a medical college. However, the girl secured high marks and got admission on merit. When the family asked Khadim to return the money, he refused and threatened them with dire consequences.