Bihar: Cop arrested for raping woman, threatening to circulate obscene photos of her

Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Somesh Mishra was arrested late Thursday for allegedly raping a woman for over a year and threatening to make her photographs viral.

Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Asish Bharti confirmed his arrest from Sahebgaj in Jharkhand. He said the women’s police station of Bhagalpur district had booked the Mishra under sections 376 (rape) and 328 (whoever administers to or causes to be taken by any person any poison or intoxicating) of the Indian Penal Code, besides charges under the Atrocities Act, following a complaint lodged by the woman on March 20.

The complainant said that she met Mishra for the first time in New Delhi before his recruitment to the police department. She alleged he called her to a friend’s house where he sexually assaulted her after giving her food laced with sedatives. He also filmed a video of the act and later used it to blackmail her into having sex with him for nearly 18 months. He threatened her, saying that he would circulate the video on social media if she refused to have a physical relationship with him, she said.

The complainant also said that Mishra continued to blackmail her into having physical relations with him even after she got married. “The DSP started harassing her even more than before after her wedding. He even assaulted her, which prompted her to approach the police,” said station house officer (SHO) Rita Kumari of the women’s police station.

The SHO said Mishra also went to the city she works in and showed her the obscene pictures that he had taken of her, and threatened to send them to her husband.

Upon investigation, the Bhagalpur Police found the allegations to be true and arrested the DSP following an arrest warrant issued by a court concerned. The police headquarters had earlier suspended him while he was training in Bihar police academy, Rajgir, when the matter first came to light.