Bhopal gang rape case: Five cops suspended, senior officer transferred

Bhopal: A 19-year-old student in Bhopal, preparing for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), was tied up and gang-raped for three hours on Tuesday in the busiest part of the city by four men who took tea and gutka (tobacco) breaks in between. Adding to the agony, the police allegedly sat on the woman's complaint for hours and refused to investigate until she and her parents found two of the rapists and dragged them to the police station.

The first police officer, the woman and her parents, approached allegedly accused her of cooking up up a "filmy" story. Sub-inspector RN Tekam has been suspended, said senior officer Dharmendra Singh, admitting an appalling 11-hour delay in filing a case. On Friday five more police officers were suspended after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, amid outrage and protests, met with senior officials.

The authorities also transferred a city superintendent of police (CSP).

"Following an initial inquiry, we have suspended the in- charge officers of three police stations (MP Nagar, Habibganj local and Habibgang GRP) and two sub-inspectors and transferred a CSP for negligence in registering the case," Inspector General (Law and Order) Makrand Deoskar said.

"A special investigation team (SIT) has been set up to probe the crime. Deputy Inspector General Sudhir Laad will head it," he added.

GRP Bhopal police station in-charge Hemant Shrivastava would be a member of the SIT, which would also have women officers and forensic experts, Deoskar said.

The suspended officials were GRP (Habibganj) police station in-charge Mohit Saxena, MP Nagar station in-charge Sanjay Singh Bais and Habibganj (city) police station in- charge Ravindra Yadav, he added.

"These officials should have registered the FIR when the victim went to their police stations, but they failed to do so," the IG said.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) had earlier said all the four accused in the case had been arrested, but the IG clarified that the police had detained four men, three of whom were eventually arrested, while the other man was not found to be involved in the incident and was allowed to go.

Another accused, identified as Raju, was absconding, he said.

The accused were booked under IPC sections 376D (gang- rape), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), a GRP police station official said.