Contrary to claims by former Haryana police officer S.P.S. Rathore’s counsel wife Abha, the then DGP who led the probe in the budding tennis player’s molestation case had said that he had cordial relations with Rathore, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was told on Thursday.
Arguing on the petition filed by Rathore challenging his conviction, the counsel for complainant said Singh, whom Abha had accused of nurturing a grudge against her husband, had categorically mentioned in his report that he had a “very cordial relationship” with Rathore.
Rejecting her claim that there was a conspiracy against Rathore, Pankaj Bhardwaj, counsel for the complainant, contended that the then Haryana Lawn Tennis Association (HLTA) manager Kuldeep Singh too had mentioned that the victim was suspended from playing tennis by Rathore though she did not commit any mistake.
He contended that the then draftsman in his testimony had clearly said that the office of HLTA where the incident took place had one glazed wall in its front.
“In the glaze wall you can see from inside and not from outside,” Bhardwaj contended.
He submitted the prime witness - a friend of the teenage victim - had testified that she saw Rathore molesting the girl in the HLTA office.
“The witness had mentioned that she herself saw that Rathore had tightly caught one hand of the girl and embraced her by pulling her towards himself with other hand by putting it around her waist,” Bhardwaj contended.
Refuting Abha’s contention that the incident was concocted as the girls told their parents about it only after two days, Bhardwaj said that the two decided to disclose the incident to the teenager’s father when Rathore called the victim to his office again by sending the ball picker Paltoo a day after the incident on August 12, 1990.
The 14-year-old girl committed suicide three years after this incident.
Earlier at the start of proceedings, Abha pleaded before Justice Jitendra Chauhan to direct the CBI to supply to her the copies of the agency’s arguments before the court.
The judge asked the CBI to do so at the earliest.
Bhardwaj told the court that the incident was reported by the complainants to then Haryana Chief Minister Hukum Singh and Home Minister Sampat Singh who assured them that the then DGP had been asked to conduct an inquiry into the allegations levelled against Rathore.
The judge asked Bhardwaj whether any of the persons whom he was quoting in his arguments had clean antecedents.
Bhardwaj told the court that the father of the prime witness had no criminal case pending against him.
Bhardwaj also tried to negate Abha’s argument that they were victim of media hype. He told the court that the media followed only after a lower court awarded six months’ imprisonment to Rathore in the case.
Bhardwaj claimed that that Rathore had filed cases against all those - including the lawyer - who were involved with the case.
He contended that RR Singh in his report had found Rathore guilty and only after that an FIR was registered against him.
The CBI and Abha have completed their arguments in the molestation before the High Court which has been conducting the hearing since July 2.
On May 25, a local court had awarded an 18-month prison term to Rathore for molesting the 14-year-old girl.
A day later, Rathore, lodged in Burail Jail, filed a revision petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging his conviction.
