SI accused of rape, suspended

He claims it was a relationship by mutual consent after they met at High Grounds police station

A police sub-inspector has been suspended after the wife of an army officer accused him of raping her.

The sub-inspector, however, claimed that it was a relationship by mutual consent.

City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar, who termed the incident as a serious lapse and a case of official misconduct, ordered Bhajantri’s suspension, simultaneously ordering an inquiry.

Complaint

The woman, aged around 40, filed a rape complaint with senior police officers, reportedly after sub-inspector Raghavendra Bhajantri refused to celebrate his birthday with her.

Bhajantri (32), from Gulbarga, was working as sub-inspector (law and order) at the High Grounds police station.

He reportedly met the woman when she came to file a complaint, and soon, the acquaintance turned intimate.

The woman, who owns a computer training institute in Whitefield, alleged that Bhajantri misused his position and forced her to have an affair with him.

She alleged that the sub-inspector stole her mobile phone and sent text messages to his phone from it to show that their relationship was by mutual consent.

‘No coercion’

Senior officers summoned Bhajantri for questioning, during which he conceded that they had a physical relationship since February, but claimed there was no coercion.

According to the police, Bhajantri tried to distance himself from her after she started to pressure him to bail her out of a cheating case filed against her at Whitefield police station.