BHOPAL: Two days after opposition Congress MLA Hemant Katare was booked by Bhopal police in two separate cases for allegedly raping an aspiring journalist and kidnapping her mother, the first time legislator is yet to be arrested by cops in both the cases.
According to inspector general (IG-Intelligence) of Madhya Pradesh police Makarand Deuskar, the investigations in both the cases are still underway and appropriate action will follow suit.
“As the alleged rape survivor is herself in judicial custody at the Bhopal Central Jail, the police have got the permission of a local court to record her statements in the case under Section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc). A team of the local police will record the woman’s statements inside the jail later in the evening,” said Deuskar.
“Also, the court had authorized the Bhopal Central Jail administration to get the medical examination of the woman conducted for investigation in the rape case,” he added.
The 21-year-old woman, a post-graduation student at the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal was arrested on January 24, 2018 by Bhopal Crime Branch for allegedly blackmailing and extorting Rs five lakh from the first time Congress MLA from Ater (Bhind) Hemant Katare and threatening to get him implicated in a rape case.
However, eight days later, the aspiring journalist lodged in the jail presently, sent a letter-cum-complaint to the DIG-Bhopal alleging that she was being continuously raped and blackmailed by the Congress MLA Hemant Katare between September 2017 and January 2018 at various places in Bhopal and Delhi, including the gymnasium owned by the legislator in Bhopal’s Arera Colony.
Also, the woman’s mother too submitted a complaint at the DIG-Bhopal office alleging that the Congress MLA and his unidentified aides kidnapped her at gunpoint on January 27 and forced her to sign on a blank document as well as commit on camera that the legislator was innocent.
While a case of raping the woman was lodged against the Congress MLA at the Mahila Thana Bhopal on Thursday, the case of kidnapping her mother was lodged the same day against the same legislator at the Bajariya police station.
While the woman presently in judicial custody has alleged rape by the Congress MLA between September 2017 and January 2018, she has also alleged in the complaint collusion between the additional SP (ASP-Bhopal Crime Branch) Rashmi Mishra in framing her in false case of blackmailing and extortion on January 24, 2018.
In the complaint, the journalism student has also alleged that after her arrest by the crime branch in Bhopal, the ASP-Crime had also shot her video in presence of the MLA and compelled her to commit that the legislator was innocent. She has sought a detailed probe into the Bhopal Crime Branch ASP’s role in allegedly framing her up in extortion and blackmailing case, but till now no probe has been ordered against the ASP-Bhopal Crime.
“All the points mentioned in the woman’s complaint are being investigated and action would be taken according to the prescribed procedure,” said IG-Intelligence of MP police Makarand Deuskar, when queried by journalists on Saturday about what action was being taken against the ASP Bhopal-Crime Rashmi Mishra in the case.