Retired army subedar held, sexually assaulting woman in Delhi park

Delhi Police said that on February 4, they had received a complaint from the woman who alleged that on January 28, when she was inside a park in Dwarka with her male friend, a man who claimed to be a cop, stopped them and scolded them for “indecent behaviour”

New Delhi: A retired army subedar, who worked as a wrestling coach with the Haryana government on a contractual basis in a state-run stadium in Gurugram, was arrested for allegedly posing as a policeman and sexually assaulting a woman inside a park in Dwarka sector 23, Delhi police said on Saturday.

Delhi Police said the 37-year-old suspect, identified the arrested suspect as Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Chhawal, allegedly stopped the woman and her male friend on the evening of January 8 and also extorted money from them (Representative image)

Police said the 37-year-old suspect, identified the arrested suspect as Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Chhawal, allegedly stopped the woman and her male friend on the evening of January 8 and also extorted money from them.

Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Shankar Chaudhary said police have recovered Kumar’s Ertiga’s car and a khaki pant he allegedly wore during the crime.

Police said that on February 4, they had received a complaint from the woman who alleged that on January 28, when she was inside a park in Dwarka with her male friend, a man who claimed to be a cop, stopped them and scolded them for “indecent behaviour”. The woman claimed that the man extorted ₹5,000 and assaulted her male friend. The woman also told police that she was sexually assaulted by the man, who later fled the spot after warning her against filing any complaint.

“On analysing CCTV cameras nearby, we saw that the suspect had fled from the crime spot in an Ertiga car of a new model. Because it was evening, the cameras did not capture the exact number of the vehicle. Also, because of the delay in reporting the crime, the CCTV footage was lost in some cases. This posed a big challenge,” DCP Choudhary said.

Police then prepared a database of the people who were in the area based on the description provided by the couple. “On the basis of the suspect’s description provided by couple and the place where it happened, a constable from Dwarka North police station expressed suspicion about a person he had come across roaming around in the area around a year ago. The constable had then clicked photos of his driving and registration certificate of his Swift Dzire car for verification purpose. A street vendor also informed us that a suspicious person used to come in a Swift Dzire car and roam around the park. On matching the two tip-offs, police reached the suspect’s house as mentioned in the driving licence and car’s registration papers.”

Not finding him there, police traced the details of the Swift Dzire and found that it was sold to another person, from whom investigators learned of the suspect’s latest address. “We reached the new address and found him along with the Ertiga car. He confessed to the crime,” said DCP Choudhary.