A 24-year-old Delhi resident has accused two men of hiring her to frame a businessman in a rape case in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district. The duo was arrested last week and later released on interim bail, police said.
Aman Chauhan, one of the accused, identified himself as the district vice-president of the Bharatiya Janta Party’s Yuva Morcha on his social media account. The party’s district unit, however, said he had been expelled from the organisation.
The woman had earlier accused the businessman, Prince Qureshi, of promising to marry her by keeping his Muslim identity a secret. In her complaint on July 15, she accused him of luring her to Gajdundwara town in Kasganj district and sexually assaulting her when she became aware of his real identity.
The following day, the police booked Mr. Qureshi and an unidentified person under charges of rape and criminal intimidation. Scores of workers of Hindutva organisations then staged protests outside the Gajdundwara police station, describing it as a case of ‘love jihad’.
However, the Kasganj police said when the woman was produced before the magistrate to record her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, she retracted her statement. She said she was hired by Mr. Chauhan and his friend, Akash Solanki, to frame Mr. Qureshi. Police sources said they had evidence of a conversation between Mr. Solanki and the woman about offering money.
'Not adding up'
BBGTS Murthy, Superintendent of Police, Kasganj, said they realised something was amiss from the moment the woman lodged her complaint. “She refused to undergo medical examination and could not give answers to our routine questionnaire. Things were not adding up. The timing of the protest and her complaint also raised suspicion. When the magistrate told her she had to undergo a medical examination and had to face consequences if she was not being truthful, she revealed that she was hired to frame Mr. Qureshi.”
On July 20, the police arrested Mr. Chauhan and Mr. Solanki under Sections 384 (extortion), 388, 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Mr. Murthy said preliminary investigation had revealed that Mr. Chauhan was involved in a financial dispute with Mr. Qureshi and allegedly wanted to use the case to put pressure on him. Questioned why charges of creating enmity between two communities were not invoked in the case, the officer told The Hindu that more sections could be included after the investigation.
The woman had been sent home, the police said. “She will be proceeded against, but so far it seems she was a victim in this case as the duo tried to use her poor financial condition to their advantage,” Mr. Murthy said.
