The Kerala police on Sunday arrested a station house officer (SHO) and four others in connection with a gang rape case in Kochi.
Police said the SHO of Beypore (Kozhikode) coastal police station, P R Sunu, and four others were arrested based on a complaint filed by a woman who is a Kochi resident.
In her complaint filed on Saturday, the woman said she was allegedly gang-raped by them first in her house in May and again in another house in Kochi two months later. Police said the victim’s husband was jailed in connection with an employment cheating case in April in Kochi and they had approached her citing this case.
According to Kochi police commissioner C H Nagaraju, the accused allegedly threatened the woman and gang-raped her. He said the accused include a SHO and a temple priest.
The commissioner said all those arrested will be booked for rape, cheating and illegal confinement.
Kochi police later said the SHO was allegedly involved in another rape case two years ago and he had spent a week in police custody then. He was under suspension for six months and later transferred to another police station.
According to an officer familiar with the matter, personnel accused in such cases are usually removed from law and order duties. Now, police will recommend the government to terminate him from service, said the officer, asking not to be named.
{{/usCountry}}According to an officer familiar with the matter, personnel accused in such cases are usually removed from law and order duties. Now, police will recommend the government to terminate him from service, said the officer, asking not to be named.
{{/usCountry}}In a separate case, an assistant sub-inspector in Wayanad district was suspended and charged under the protection of children from sexual offences (Pocso) act for allegedly molesting a minor victim who was taken to Ooty in neighbouring Tamil Nadu for gathering evidence in a Pocso case related to alleged molestation of the girl by a man who befriended her on social media and his friends.
In her complaint against the ASI, the 17-year-old said he molested her last week despite a woman police officer accompanying the investigating team. The girl alleged that the ASI groped her and took pictures of her without her permission.
A departmental inquiry later found that there was merit in the victim’s compliant and suspended the police officer who is absconding.