4-member SIT to investigate detention rape allegations against AIG Kapoor

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Chandigarh: Punjab Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate charges of rape in custody against Deputy Inspector General of Police (AIG) Aashish Kapoor, officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. evolution of the situation.

The SIT was constituted on December 30 after the registration of an FIR of rape in custody against Kapoor under sections 376 (2) (a), 376 (2) (b), 376 (2) (d) and 376(c) of the IPC Articles for using his authority and raping a woman in his care and jurisdiction. On the same day, the victim contacted the Governor of Punjab, Banwarilal Purohit, to seek justice in the case.

An SIT would conduct the investigation in 60 days, according to the orders of Director General of Punjab Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.

The four-member SIT headed by ADGP (Security) S Srivastava includes two female IPS, Nilambari Jagdale and Alka Meena, in addition to having an SP Ranking Officer Jaskeerat Singh, who has been included as per the recommendation of the Authority of Police Complaints (PCA) in the complainant’s allegations.

Jaskeerat, as DSP in the Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU), had led the initial investigation into earlier allegations in which the complainant, an inmate held at Patiala Central Jail, in 2019, alleged a custodial rape and 1 cr extortion by Kapoor when he was assigned as superintendent at Amritsar Central Jail.

The Complainant had approached former IG (OCCU) and now AAP MP Kunwar Vijay Partap who was visiting Patiala Central Jail after which the investigation was conducted by Jaskeerat Singh.

However, later the probe was transferred to a four-member SIT led by ADGP and now Special DGP Sharat Satya Chauhan. This SIT, on November 23, 2021, recommended closing the case against Kapoor, according to the PCA report.

In October last year, Kapoor was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in a 1cr bribery case after a complaint from the lady, who is also a complainant in the detention rape case. Kapoor is currently being held in Patiala Central Jail.

The PCA, headed by Satish Chandra, Additional Chief Secretary (Retired), in its report submitted to the home department of Punjab on November 3, 2022, had recommended a further investigation into the matter.

In particular, the PCA led by Chandra, in its report to the government, had expressed doubts about the investigation carried out by the SIT Chauhanled. The PCA report claims that Chauhanled SIT ignored the investigation conducted by Jaskeerat Singh in which serious evidence was gathered in the case.

In November 2022, the Punjab Home Ministry demanded an explanation from five police officers, including two senior IPS officers and a retired DGP, after the PCA found them guilty of a botched investigation into the in-custody rape and extortion case against Kapoor.

Besides SIT Chief Chauhan, ADGP Vibhu Raj, PPS Officer Ramandeep Singh and Inspector Bhagwant Singh Riar, who were part of SIT, were also charged by the PCA for conducting the investigation without applying their mind in order to delay and obstruct justice to the victim of rape and extortion in custody, thereby aiding an AIG defendant.

PCA also indicted the then DGP, Sidharth Chattopadhyaya, for not applying his mind to the SIT report which gave the AIG a definite boost.

The SIT report was presented to Chattopadhyaya on December 23, 2021, and on the same day, it put the report on file without bothering to consult the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the PCA had said.

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