UP tax official held for ‘raping’ junior colleague

BHOPAL: A senior official of the Uttar Pradesh Commercial Tax Department, posted in Noida, has been arrested on the charge of raping and assaulting his junior colleague in the same department in a hotel room in Bhopal on August 2, police said on Monday.

Bhopal superintendent of police (South) Rahul Lodha said they have recorded the statement of the accused, Pankaj Kumar Singh, and he has been arrested. Police said they will produce him in court on Tuesday.

An official release said a case was registered against Singh, 43, for rape, voluntary causing hurt and obscene gestures at the Kamla Nagar police on the basis of complaint filed by the woman.

The official added that the two, who are colleagues and have known each other since 2010, were staying in separate rooms in the hotel.

The complainant has told the police that the accused allegedly raped her on August 2 in the hotel where they were staying, and then raped her again on on Sunday night. The woman has also alleged that Singh did not allow her to leave the hotel, although she was scheduled to fly back to Delhi on Sunday.

The woman filed the complaint with the police this morning, in which she also claimed that the accused had beaten her up, police said, adding that a case has been registered. Both of them were in Bhopal to meet a political person in connection with some personal work, the police said.

“We have registered an FIR and are investigating further into the woman’s complaint,” SP Lodha told reporters.