LUCKNOW: Following complaints of negligence, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amita Singh was removed on Monday as investigating officer (IO) of the gang-rape case in which former transport minister Gayatri Prajapati is an accused. Avanish Mishra, circle officer of Hazratganj, was appointed the new investigating officer.
Prajapati, along with his six associates, were booked in a case of gang-rape and sexual harassment on the directives of the Supreme Court on February 18. Gayatri was arrested on March 15. DSP Amita Singh, circle officer of Alambagh, was asked to probe the case.
According to SSP Lucknow Manzil Saini, two complaints were lodged against Amita Singh on March 2 and on April 5 accusing her of negligence and harassment of survivor during the probe. “In the wake of the sensitiveness if the issue, we decided to shift Amita Singh from the case and transfer her to Bakshi Ka Talab,” said Saini.
In the first complaint against the DSP lodged at Hauz Khas police station in Delhi on March 2 by a relative of the survivor, the complainant had charged Amita Singh with intimidation of the survivor. It was claimed in the complaint that she forcefully took away the phone of the survivor’s daughter to check call records and chats from AIIMS, Delhi. The survivor’s daughter had been undergoing treatment at the hospital. The IO had gone there record her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC.
The survivor lodged the second complaint in Chitrakoot on April 5 in which she accused the IO and three unidentified cops of kidnapping her daughter from her house.
Chitrakoot SP DP Singh said that an FIR was lodged against Amita Singh and three others under charges of public servants framing incorrect statements, criminal intimidation and kidnapping. However, Amita Singh refuted the allegations and said that she followed all protocol while conducting the investigation. On the first complaint, she admitted to have taken away the phone as part of the probe, while she rubbished the complaint of kidnapping saying she recorded the statement in Chitrakoot as per law.
Mahila Thana inspector Pushpa Awasthi would assist new IO Avanish Mishra. A lady officer has been attached because as per law a female cop should be part of the probe in cases involving women and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The Chitrakoot-based woman had accused Prajapati and his aides of raping her repeatedly between October 2014 and July 2016 on the pretext of giving her a job. The former minister also tried to sexually harass her daughter, the survivor had alleged in the Supreme Court when her complaint was not registered by UP police despite her repeated efforts.