HYDERABAD: Nearly 10 days after a sexual assault case was registered against trainee IPS officer Uday Krishna Reddy, the Hyderabad police detained him on Tuesday.
The trainee officer had earlier been reported as untraceable by the police. Hours before he was detained, however, Uday told a vernacular news channel that he was not absconding but had travelled to his native village in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district to visit his ailing grandmother. He claimed the police had searched only his temporary residences in Hyderabad and not his native village, adding that he would cooperate with the investigation.
The case stems from a complaint lodged on July 18 by a 30-year-old woman trainee at the Attapur police station. She alleged that from June 23 onwards, Uday subjected her to continuous sexual harassment by sending abusive WhatsApp messages, using derogatory language and making offensive remarks in the presence of fellow trainees.
She further alleged that he forcibly took her mobile phone, compelled her to reveal its password, confined her in his room, pulled her hair, attempted to strangle her, threatened her with a knife and prevented her from leaving. According to the complaint, he also secretly recorded a private video of her and sent it to her husband to blackmail and intimidate her. She alleged that he assaulted her again on July 10.
Based on the complaint, the Attapur police registered a case under Sections 74 (criminal force against a woman), 75 (sexual harassment), 77 (voyeurism), 78 (stalking), 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 66E (violation of privacy) and 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
A women’s police station inspector, Jyotsna, has been appointed as the investigating officer, while Women Safety Wing DCP Lavanya is supervising the investigation.