Seraikela (Jharkhand), Nov 1 A police sub-inspector and a constable were held on Sunday in connection with the alleged rape of a woman inside a police station here, taking the total number of arrests in the case to three, officials said on Sunday.
Following the incident of October 29 night, a constable was arrested on Saturday, while five police personnel, including the officer-in-charge of Gamharia police station, were suspended for dereliction of duty.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed the day after the incident on the orders of Seraikela-Kharswan Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Swargiary to probe the incident.
Based on the SIT report submitted on Saturday and on the SP’s directive, suspended sub-inspector Manoj Sahu and constable Santosh Rai were arrested on Sunday, according to an official statement.
A day earlier, the SP had suspended Gamharia Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge Inspector Sanjay Prasad, sub-inspectors Manoj Sahu and Anirudh Singh, Havildar Muneshwar Kumar and constable Santosh Rai for dereliction of duty.
On Sunday, the SP suspended sub-inspectors Ajay Paswan and Lalan Ravidas, assistant sub-inspectors Vishu Oraon, Mukesh Kujur, Mukesh Ravidas, Sitaram Singh Pahan, Havildars Pitambar Mahato, Bahadur Hansda and Constable Manoj Gorai for dereliction of duty, lack of alertness, and tarnishing the image of the police, the statement said.
The constable who was arrested on Saturday was sent to judicial custody by a local court.
In her complaint, the victim had told the police that she had an altercation with her husband on Thursday evening and left home, fearing that she would be beaten up.
The woman went to a neighbour’s house and contacted police using her mobile phone. A PCR van arrived at the house and brought her to the police station that night, police said in a statement.
The officers on duty provided her with a room in the police station to rest. While she was in the room, the prime accused, a wireless operator at the police station, raped her, the statement said.
(PTI News)
