Woman who accused school owner of rape held for extortion
AS PER THE POLICE, THE WOMAN AND HER HUSBAND WERE TAKING ₹7.25 LAKH FROM OUTSIDE THE DISTRICT COURT ON FRIDAY, HAD ALREADY TAKEN ₹6 LAKH
Karnal Nearly one-and-a-halfmonths after a woman staffer at a private school accused the owner and a senior official of the revenue department of gangrape, police have arrested her and her husband for taking money to settle the case.
“The woman and her husband have been arrested for taking ₹7.25 lakh from outside the district court in Sector 12 on Friday and have been booked for extortion. An FIR will be registered under relevant sections,” said Karnal superintendent of police (SP) Surender Bhoria, adding that those she had accused had approached the police, claiming that she was demanding ₹15 lakh to withdraw her complaint. The SP said police will also seek remand of the couple to recover ₹6 lakh they had already taken.
“I am being implicated in a false case and have never sought any money,” the woman has said.
On July 7 this year, the woman had alleged that the school owner and the revenue official had raped her at the residence of the former, just a few months after being appointed assistant librarian at the school in 2018. She had applied for the post of a Hindi teacher. She has also accused the woman principal of the school of helping the accused by harassing and pressuring her.
On her complaint, the school owner, the government official and the principal were booked under Sections 376D (gangrape), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (act done by several persons in common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) the same day.
Police said during investigation, it was found that the woman had filed the complaint two days after the school management accused her of extortion, as she was seeking a raise in her salary and other benefits from the school. The SP added that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was investigating the case as counter-complaints had been filed. He added that the school management had provided text messages and other evidence against the woman and the arrest will help solve the case.
Vinay Bansal, advocate of the woman, has refuted the allegations and questioned the working of police. “The police were trying to implicate her to withdraw her gangrape complaint she has filed against school owner and government officer,” he claimed, adding that he was sure that the court will clear her of all the allegations.
He added that there was no chemical coating on currency notes and police claims of arresting her red-handed were false. He also alleged that a number of other influential people from Karnal were involved in her arrest. A court sent the couple to judicial custody, even as the police pressed hard for their police custody.
Karnal deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Rajiv Kumar said a police team had arrested them in the presence of duty magistrate, while taking the money and they had been booked under Sections 384 (extortion), 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.