Three cops involved in fake letter alleging sexual harassment against seniors: Probe

MUMBAI: A probe by the Mumbai crime branch into allegations of sexual harassment against 3 police officers of the Motor Transport department has found that the letter alleging sexual harassment by 8 women police drivers was fake and was maliciously circulated as a result of an intra-department malice.

The probe points to the involvement of two constables and an officer of the Motor Transport (MT) department. The crime branch has been questioning police constable DK Jadhav and his family members after it emerged that Jadhav had used one of his family member’s mobile phone to circulate the fake letter on social media.

One of the investigating officers told HT that the MT department was beset with internal disputes -- one of the main reasons being the transfer and posting of driver constables. There are around 2,300 drivers attached to the MT department and they are allotted duties at several places, including as drivers of the security provided to the industrialists, VIPS and at ‘A’ grade police stations, crime branch, protection and security. The main nub of the rivalry is the power of the two inspectors to allocate plum postings. The most sought-after postings are those at one of Mumbai’s top industrialist’s home or office which come with a number of perks, including free medical.

One of the disgruntled constables Jadhav wrote the letter alleging sexual harassment by women police drivers at the behest of a senior police inspector. The letter was typed by a woman constable and Jadhav on a computer of the MT department in the presence of an inspector rank officer.

Jadhav then handed it over to one of his family members and asked him to go to Dadar post office and drop the letter in the post box. The family member then took one of his friends along with him and went the Dadar post office where there are no CCTV cameras installed, and the letter was posted to the MT department this January. The letter was thereafter circulated on social media, said the officer on the investigation team.

The letter mentioned names of eight women police constables claiming that they had been sexually exploited and mentally harassed by their seniors. The letter named their alleged perpetrators – a DCP and two police inspectors -- accusing them of raping the women constable multiple times between November and January, and also extorting ₹1,000 every month from each of them.

After the letter went viral on social media, Nagpada police registered a case against an unknown person on January 9, under sections 500 (defamation), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 465 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

The case was later transferred to the crime branch and inspector Anita Kadam of the SS Branch began investigating it. The crime branch has so far recorded the statement of 19 people, including 7 of the 8 women constables whose names were mentioned in the letter.

None of them have supported the allegation of sexual harassment or exploitation.

According to the alleged complaint letter which was also widely circulated on social media, the women claimed that their parents were poor and some were deceased on account of which they had secured jobs in the police department. It then went on to state that three of their senior officers had been sexually exploiting and that the officers had shot obscene videos of the women.

The purported complaint then pleaded with the authorities to investigate the named officers and to seize their mobile phones as evidence to prove the harassment charges. Subsequently, 6 of the 8 women visited the senior IPS officer and told him that they had not written it and that their names had been used fraudulently.

AN INVESTIGATING OFFICER SAID THE MOTOR TRANSPORT DEPT WAS BESET WITH INTERNAL DISPUTES