Pathankot terror-tainted Punjab cop Salwinder booked for rape
Salwinder was subjected to a lie-detector test by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the January 1 Pathankot airbase terror attack.
Punjab Police have registered a rape case against former Gurdaspur superintendent of police (headquarters) Salwinder Singh.
Salwinder was subjected to a lie-detector test by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the January 1 Pathankot airbase terror attack.
Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jagdeep Singh Hundal confirmed that Salwinder was booked on rape charges. The FIR was registered under section 376-C (sexual intercourse by person in authority) of the Indian Penal Code at the Gurdaspur city police station following an inquiry conducted by Pathankot SP (headquarters) GS Khurana into the complaint of a woman who had accused Salwinder of exploiting her, sources said.
Police sources say the cop who is posted as assistant commandant of Punjab Armed Police (PAP) at Jalandhar was also booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act late on Wednesday night.
The allegation against Salwinder is that when he was posted in Gurdaspur, the name of the husband of the complainant allegedly figured in a rape case. The woman had sought help of Salwinder, who allegedly accepted Rs 50,000 bribe from the complainant, besides harassing her sexually.
On Wednesday, he was summoned by the Inspector General (IG) Gurpreet Deo, who heads the sexual harassment committee of the Punjab Police, in another complaint of sexual harassment by five women cops who were serving under him at Gurdaspur.
Talking to HT, Salwinder accused a section of the senior Punjab Police officers of falsely implicating him in the rape case. “This complaint in which I have been booked pertains to 2014. Then Batala SSP had conducted a probe into the allegations of the complainant and found them to be false. I was given a clean chit in 2015. This is a conspiracy being hatched by some police officers who want to malign my image,” he said.
The cop also questioned the motive and timing behind the re-investigation into the complaint. Claiming that he was innocent, Salwinder said, “The police has registered the case of rape against me as they are unable to accept the fact that I have been found innocent despite being questioned several times by different agencies after the Pathankot attack. Had I been corrupt in any manner, these agencies would have put me behind bars”.
Salwinder along with his cook and a friend was allegedly kidnapped by Pakistani terrorists on the night of December 31 hours before they launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase on January 2.
They had gone to visit Dargarh Punj Peer, whose caretaker Somraj was also questioned by the NIA. But NIA found no evidence to suggest that Salwinder had links with terrorists.