A group of youth sexually assaulted a 22-year-old postgraduate student, after forcing her and her male friend into a car late on Friday night. The police arrested the prime accused on Sunday.
The Fraser Town police allegedly counselled her against filing a complaint of kidnap and also delayed the filing of a First Information Report. The victim, despite being in shock, had to help the police in tracing and identifying the accused.
Meanwhile, prime accused Hyder Nasir (24), a resident of Shivajinagar and son of a Bahujan Samaj Party leader, has been arrested in this connection while his associates are still on the run. He has been booked on charges of rape, abduction and robbery, along with other criminal charges.
On Friday night, a group of youth accosted the victim and her friend while they were talking in a car outside an apartment complex in Fraser Town. Posing as policemen in plainclothes, the accused forced the girl to come with them, while one of his associates sat in her friend’s car and took control of the wheel.
When the accused demanded Rs. 50,000 to “release them without booking any case”, the victim and her friend pleaded that they did not have money. The accused then drove around the city for two hours before reaching an isolated place near Railway Parallel Road in Cox Town, where Nasir sexually assaulted the woman in the car, after asking his associates to stand outside. Meanwhile, the accused threatened the woman’s friend at knife-point. They fled the scene after leaving the duo in an isolated place, the victim said in her complaint.
The victim reached home and narrated the ordeal to her parents before filing a complaint with the police the next day. However, the victim’s friend, who had taken down the registration number of the car, began to search for the vehicle with his friends and noticed the car on Sunday, parked in front of a bakery on M.M. Road. They waited for the accused to reach the car and caught him, before informing the police.
Upon being questioned, Nasir confessed and gave the names of his associates. A special team has been formed to track down the accused, a senior police officer said.
Inspector suspended Police inspector Mohammad Rafiq, attached to Pulakeshinagar police station, has been suspended for the alleged delay in filing the FIR. An inquiry into the allegations revealed that Mr. Rafiq had not only delayed filing the FIR but also tried to book the case under a different section of the Indian Penal Code, ignoring the magnitude of the crime.
Sources added that Mr. Rafiq had delayed taking the victim for a medical examination and also delayed conducting a spot inspection. The report was submitted by Deputy Commissioner of Police Satish Kumar to City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Hauradkar, who suspended Mr. Rafiq.
