The sub-inspector who molested a 28-year-old woman inside the Mall police station in Lucknow on Wednesday night, was on Thursday evening arrested from Allahabad where he had fled after the incident.
After his arrest, Awasthi was medically examined at Bhaurao Deoras (Civil) Hospital in the evening and brought back to Lucknow.
Rakesh Kumar, the station officer of Mall police station, was suspended. The probe has been handed over to superintendent of police, protocol, Gyan Prakash Chaturvedi. Malihabad circle officer JP Srivastava, who was earlier assigned the probe, has been transferred to the intelligence wing, Ghaziabad.
In her FIR, the victim, a resident of Mall, stated that the policeman Kamta Prasad Awasthi was demanding sexual favours from her to quash a complaint against her in a ‘trivial’ quarrel.
In her complaint, the woman said, “I had a quarrel with a woman neighbour nine months back in which her leg broke. I paid her R30,000 as compensation and the matter was settled.”
However, the neighbour developed some problem in the leg and wrote another complaint to the Mall police that was handled by Awasthi. “It was this letter that Awasthi was using to demand sexual favour for expunging the case,” said the molestation victim.
{{/usCountry}}However, the neighbour developed some problem in the leg and wrote another complaint to the Mall police that was handled by Awasthi. “It was this letter that Awasthi was using to demand sexual favour for expunging the case,” said the molestation victim.
{{/usCountry}}Awasthi called the woman several times and on Wednesday he called her at night along with her husband. “Fearing that he might put my husband behind bars I decided to meet him alone while my husband was waiting outside. At 9.30pm Awasthi called me inside the room and started pressuring me for a physical relationship,” said the victim.
As the cop closed the door and attempted to take off her clothes, the woman raised an alarm. “I bit him hard on his hand before running out of the room,” she said in the letter to district police chief Ashutosh Pandey after whose visit to the police station the FIR was lodged. Awasthi was then nabbed by his colleagues but escaped to Allahabad.