E-Paper
4-member SIT to probe custodial rape allegations against AIG Kapoor
Punjab Police formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the charges of custodial rape against assistant inspector general of police (AIG) Aashish Kapoor, officials familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
Chandigarh: Punjab Police formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the charges of custodial rape against assistant inspector general of police (AIG) Aashish Kapoor, officials familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
The SIT was constituted on December 30 after the registration of an FIR of custodial rape against Kapoor under sections 376 (2) (a), 376 (2) (b), 376 (2) (d) and 376 (c) sections of IPC for using his authority and raping a woman in his custody and jurisdiction. On the same day, the victim had approached Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking justice in the case.
An SIT would conduct the probe in 60 days, says the orders by Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.
The four-member SIT led by ADGP (security) S Srivastava comprises two women IPS, Nilambari Jagdale and Alka Meena, besides having SP rank officer Jaskeerat Singh, who has been included as per the recommendation of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) into the allegations of the complainant.
Jaskeerat, as a DSP in Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU), had conducted the initial probe into the allegations earlier in which the complainant, an inmate lodged in Patiala Central Jail, in 2019, had alleged custodial rape and extortion of ₹ 1 cr by Kapoor when he was posted as superintendent in Amritsar Central Jail.
The complainant had approached the then IG (OCCU) and now AAP MLA, Kunwar Vijay Partap, who was on a visit to Patiala Central Jail, after which the probe was conducted by Jaskeerat Singh.
However, later the probe was transferred to a four-member SIT led by then ADGP and now special DGP Sharat Satya Chauhan. This SIT, on November 23, 2021, recommended the closure of the case against Kapoor, as per the PCA report.
In October last year, Kapoor was arrested by the vigilance bureau in a case of corruption of ₹1 cr after a complaint by the lady, who is also a complainant in the custodial rape case. Kapoor is lodged in Patiala Central Jail at present.
The PCA, headed by Satish Chandra, additional chief secretary (retd), in its report submitted to the Punjab home department on November 3, 2022, had recommended a re-investigation into the matter.
Notably, Chandra-led PCA, in its report to the government had raised doubts about the probe carried out by Chauhan–led SIT. The PCA report claims that Chauhan–led SIT ignored the probe carried out by Jaskeerat Singh in which serious evidence was collected in the case.
In November 2022, the Punjab home department sought an explanation from five police officers, including two senior IPS officers and a retired DGP, after PCA found them guilty of a shoddy investigation in the custodial rape and extortion case against Kapoor.
Besides SIT head Chauhan, ADGP Vibhu Raj, PPS officer Ramandeep Singh and inspector Bhagwant Singh Riar, who were in the SIT, were also indicted by the PCA for “conducting the probe without applying their minds in order to delay and obstruct justice to the victim of custodial rape and extortion, thereby helping an accused AIG”.
PCA also indicted the then DGP, Sidharth Chattopadhyaya, “for not applying his mind to the report of the SIT that gave a clean chit to the AIG.”
The SIT report was presented to Chattopadhyaya on December 23, 2021, and on the same day, he consigned the report to the records without caring to consult the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the PCA had stated.
