KOTA: A police officer has been arrested and suspended from duty for allegedly raping a 25-year-old tribal woman in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district, police said on Thursday.
Jugdish Prasad (59), an Assistant Sub-Inspector at Bhalta Police Station, was the investigating officer in a case which the rape victim had filed against her in-laws in January, they said.
After preliminary investigation against Prasad, Jhalawar Superintendent of Police Monika Sen dismissed him from Rajasthan police services and ordered forfeiture of all his post-retirement benefits.
Prasad is set to retire in six months.
He had been troubling the victim by frequently making phone calls on pretext of investigation, the victim had alleged in her complaint, police said.
On Monday night, when she was attending a wedding function in a village, Prasad called her outside, took her to a forest area on his motorcycle, and allegedly raped her.
He then dropped her back at the marriage venue and left when he saw her husband, the police said citing the complaint.
The woman then narrated her ordeal to the husband and on Tuesday evening they filed a complaint against Prasad at the same police station where he is deployed.
A case was lodged against the officer under Section 376 (2) (a) (i) (rape by police officer within designated police station limits) of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Circle Officer (CO) Girdhar Singh said.
Prasad was arrested within 24 hours of the complaint, he said.
The victim's statement was recorded before the magistrate on Wednesday after a medical examination, Singh said.
Prasad is to be produced before the court on Thursday.
The police will not seek his remand for interrogation and his preliminary investigation has already been carried out, he added.