IIT engineer arrested for 'raping' 25-year-old

Kolkata: Bidhannagar police have arrested a 26-year-old IIT engineer for his alleged involvement in raping a 25-year-old girl, who also happened to be an engineer at a reputed company in New Town.

The victim who was originally from Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand has currently been staying here in the city. The accused, Rahul Kumar Tripathi (26) is also from Bokaro Steel City in Jharkhand. She lodged a complaint at the Cyber crime police station of Bidhannagar.

According to the police, Tripathi completed engineering from IIT, Rurki and qualified in GAAT also. He had been working with one engineering firm in Uttarakhand. On the basis of the specific complaint lodged by the victim, the police arrested the accused from the city on Monday.

The victim had told the police that they came to know each other from a social networking site three years ago. During interrogation, the victim admitted that she developed a relationship with the accused who had captured some objectionable photographs of the victim. He started blackmailing the victim with these photographs. She also alleged that in the past three years, the accused had raped her on a number of occasions.

She further alleged that she had been subjected to both mental and physical torture by the accused. Thripathi also allegedly threatened her with dire consequences if she makes the incident public. According to police, there had been a physical relationship between the two when the accused captured some photographs as well as some videos. The complainant expressed her unwillingness to continue the relationship in November 2015 as a result of which, the accused started torturing her both physically and mentally.

He also blackmailed her with the help of videos and photographs. It was also alleged that she was forced to establish physical relationship with the accused on several occasions. The accused used to threaten to upload the photographs in the social networking site if she denies the relationship, a senior police officer said. Police have seized the accused's mobile phone and laptop from Bokaro. A detailed probe has been initiated.