IIM-L student held for rape he ‘committed’ before joining institute

LUCKNOW: An Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) student was arrested from outside the institute campus in Madiaon here for alleged rape with a Bengaluru girl.

The incident allegedly happened in Bengaluru before the boy joined IIM-L in June 2015.

Police told HT on Sunday that the girl had registered an FIR of rape against the student with Bengaluru police around a year ago. Now, the Bangalore police have taken him there.

The arrest was made on Saturday when a team of Bengaluru police approached the city police and took the accused, Devendra Naik, along with them after procuring a three-day transit remand, to present him in court there. Devendra hails from Hyderabad and is pursuing MBA from IIM-L after completing his M Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

NK Mishra, inspector of Madiaon police station, said the Bengaluru police informed them the girl, in her complaint, had alleged that she entered into a relationship with Devendra after becoming friends with him through Facebook in 2015.

She said Devendra met her at least thrice and sexually exploited her after giving assurance to marry her. She said he stopped responding to her calls and messages after taking admission in IIM-L. She then lodged the FIR with Bengaluru police for sexual exploitation.

Senior IIM-L officials refused to speak on the issue, saying the matter is sub-judice.

“The IIM-Lucknow has nothing to do with the incident,” a professor told HT on condition of anonymity. According to Devendra’s friends, both girls and boys, he is a nice person. He had recently announced his engagement. So far IIM-L has not taken any action against the accused. “No action is being contemplated. We will wait for the law to take its course,” the professor said.