The 37-year-old woman survivor claims after she fulfilled demands, the man was arrested and granted bail in 5 days; cops didn’t file chargesheet for a year. She has also written to CM Fadnavis
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Pune: After the police allegedly did not file a chargesheet for almost a year despite a 37-year-old woman’s complaint that she was repeatedly raped by a person she had met on a matrimonial site, she was forced to approach the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which has now directed the Pune city police commissioner to re-investigate the case and submit a progress report within 15 days.
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The victim said she has also written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, asking him to take stringent action against the police depatment, who, she alleged, insisted she give them a car and some cash for carrying out the investigation.
Raped and blackmailed
The Pune woman runs an import-export business. She had met Hitendra Ghosh through a matrimonial site, adding that he sweet-talked her into meeting him on February 12, 2015, at a hotel in the city and raped her. Later, he had allegedly assured her that he would marry her.
She also claimed that he raped her on two more occasions afterwards and alleged that Ghosh, a businessman based out of Mumbai, even blackmailed her with video clips of the rape that he had taken and extorted Rs 6 lakh.
“Later, Ghosh demanded I have a physical relationship with his friend and another person. I couldn’t take it any longer, and after this, I approached the police on March 17, 2016,” she said.
Initially, she claimed, she was made to run from pillar to post in Mumbai and then in Pune just to get her complaint registered. She alleged that it was finally taken down only after she sat in a police station for more than 30 hours, refusing to budge or back down.
She also alleged that because she had gone to the police station in her car, the officers demanded that she give them a car and some cash to arrest the culprit.
“I lent them a Sedan as well as Rs 4,000 to arrest the culprit. Soon after, I had to go on a business trip to Korea. A week later when I returned, I found out that Ghosh had already been granted bail. I was shocked,” she said.
“Till date, the police have not charge-sheeted him. I am a rape survivor, but it’s more like I am the culprit. My mobile phone was seized; on the other hand, the police have not even seized his laptop.”
Police speak
When contacted, Pune city police commissioner Rashmi Shukla said, “I will look into this matter. Injustice will not be tolerated. Till now, I have not received a notice or read any communication regarding the case from the National Commission of Scheduled Castes. I shall act on it when I receive it.”
Ghosh’s lawyer Shrikant Shivde said, “Ghosh has been granted bail. I cannot comment on it.”