Thane, Sep 9 (PTI) Two rickshaw drivers were arrested in Thane in Maharashtra for allegedly abducting a woman passenger in a bid to rape her and then pushing her out of their three-wheeler when two policemen heard her screams and gave chase, an official said on Saturday.

The incident took place around 10:45pm on Friday under Manpada police station limits in Dombivali in the district, he said.

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"The woman hailed an autorickshaw to go to Kolegaon Naka after praying at a temple in Khidkali. There was already a man, also a driver, inside the autorickshaw when she boarded it. The driver sped past the spot where the woman intended to alight, while the other person in the vehicle took out a screw driver," Senior Inspector Suresh Madane told PTI.

"The driver Prabhakar Patil (22) and his associate Vaibhav Tare (19) forced her to take off her clothes and were about to rape her when her screams were heard by two patrolling policemen Atul Bhoiye and Sudhir Hase," he said.

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After Hase and Bhoiye gave chase to the autorickshaw, accused Patil and Tare while fleeing pushed the woman out of the vehicle, resulting in injuries for which she is undergoing treatment, he said.

"However, both of them were nabbed by Hase and Bhoiye some distance away. One of them attacked the policemen with the screw driver. Our probe has found Tare is a history-sheeter with cases against his name in Mumbra police station," the official added.

Patil and Tare have been charged under Indian Penal Code provisions for kidnapping, criminal intimidation, assaulting a woman to disrobe her, sexual harassment and other offences, Madane informed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)