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Pune:Former IAS officer sentenced to 5 years jail for sexual assault
The Pune session court on Saturday, sentenced former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Maruti Hari Sawant to five years rigorous imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old girl and molesting three other girls in March 2015
The Pune session court on Saturday, sentenced former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Maruti Hari Sawant to five years rigorous imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old girl and molesting three other girls in March 2015. He was also fined ₹10 lakh.
The incident took place in March 2015 and FIR was registered at Sinhagad police station under sections 376,354,506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 4,6,8,10 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to officials, Sawant resided with his family at a flat in Shivajinagar and was a frequent visitor to his father-in-law’s apartment near school at Hingne Khurd, where the assaults took place.
Many schoolgirls came to play on the playground
and there Sawant used to lure them by offering biscuits and chocolates. Then, he would take them to his father-inlaw’s flat, make them watch obscene content on his computer and sexually assault them. The girls informed their school counsellor about the series of assaults. The counsellor and parents approached the police and filed a complaint. The police, during the search of his house, had seized 3,500 porn videos from his computer which were later submitted in the court.
Special public prosecutor Pratap Pardeshi argued on behalf of the prosecution.
Sawant was a 1998 batch promoted IAS officer and was posted as a director general of the Maharashtra Council of Agriculture Education and Research (MCAER) Pune. After the incident came to light, the government placed him under suspension.
