SI suspended for attempted rape in UP district

Pilibhit (UP), Feb 11 (IANS) A sub-inspector (SI) with Barkhera police station has been suspended after he was booked for allegedly attempting to rape a 29-year-old woman.

The woman alleged that the accused had been harassing her with obscene comments over the phone for days, before the incident.

The complainant alleged that after her parents passed away 15 years ago, she was married to a man with whom she has been living in a village under Gajraula police station. Her parents had willed their agricultural land in the name of her mentally impaired brother and her elder sister had forcibly taken away the brother to live with her in Bisalpur city, hoping to usurp the land.

About a month ago, she had filed a written complaint against her sister with Barkhera police station and the accused SI, Ram Gopal, got her cell phone number. After this, the SI started making obscene phone calls to her almost every night.

One day, he suggested that she should accompany him to Bisalpur to bring her brother back from her elder sister's house.

She agreed and after reaching Bisalpur on February 2, he asked her to accompany him to a flat in Patel Nagar, to write a complaint that would be filed at Bisalpur Kotwali police station.

She said that when they reached the flat, the SI closed the door from inside, grabbed her and attempted to molest her. However, she managed to flee from the flat.

Later, the SI then threatened to implicate the complainant and her husband in a false criminal case if she disclosed the matter to anyone, she said.

Barkhera SHO Viresh Kumar said Ram Gopal was booked under Section 354A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) of IPC.

SP, Jai Prakash Yadav, said Ram Gopal would remain suspended until the end of investigation. In case allegations levelled against him were found to be false, his suspension would be withdrawn or else further action would be taken in the case.