DEHRADUN: A police sub-inspector, a constable and two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have been arrested after a woman alleged that she was gang-raped at a farmhouse in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district. The property belongs to Uttarakhand independent MLA Umesh Kumar Sharma.
The alleged assault took place late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning at the farmhouse in the Hasanpur police station area. The woman complained to police afterwards, and a case was registered against the four men she named.
Police identified the arrested men as sub-inspector Sanjay Tomar and constable Pramod, both posted at Uttar Pradesh's Amroha district’s Hasanpur police station, and CRPF inspector Lalaram and head constable Mohit.
According to the complaint, the two CRPF personnel brought the woman from Meerut to Hasanpur. She alleged that the four men took her to the farmhouse on the pretext of visiting a religious site and sexually assaulted her there. Police said the sequence of events and the role of each accused remain under investigation.
Speaking to the TNIE, Amroha's Additional Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Bhadoria said all four men named by the woman had been arrested.
“We are investigating who played what role, from bringing the woman from Meerut to Hasanpur to what allegedly happened at the farmhouse,” Additional SP Bhadoria told the TNIE. The two Uttar Pradesh police personnel have been suspended, dismissal proceedings are under way, and the CRPF is being informed so it can take departmental action against its personnel, he added.
The farmhouse caretaker, Ram Niwas, has separately written to the Amroha superintendent of police seeking an inquiry. His complaint alleges that the men intimidated him, used abusive language and threatened to kill him. He also asked police to investigate the woman’s allegation of gang rape.
Niwas said he was told by phone that people from the Union Home Ministry were coming to the property for an inquiry. According to his complaint, the group arrived around 8 pm on Tuesday. When he reached the farmhouse at 10.33 pm, he said, a local sub-inspector, CRPF personnel and a woman were there. He alleged that the accused had pressured him into allowing them onto the property.
Sharma, the independent MLA from Khanpur in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district, said he had filed a complaint with police. According to the legislator, the visitors told the farmhouse guard that they had come for a raid and that women officers were accompanying them.
“They said an operation was to take place in the area, after which they were given a room,” Sharma said. “I have lodged a complaint about the entire matter.”
Police said it is still a matter of investigation whether anyone used the farmhouse with the MLA’s permission. The allegations against the four arrested men are also being investigated