Cop accused of raping colleague seeks pre-arrest bail in high court

Mumbai: A sub-inspector (SI) of the Navi Mumbai police's Crime Branch has moved the Bombay High Court seeking anticipatory bail in an alleged rape and criminal intimidation case filed against him by a woman constable.

SI Amit Shelar's petition came up for hearing Wednesday before a division bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanty and S S Jadhav, which directed it to be placed for hearing before an appropriate bench.

Shelar approached the high court after a sessions court rejected his application seeking pre-arrest bail on December 31 last year.

The 31-year-old complainant, also attached to the Navi Mumbai police's Crime Branch, had in November last year lodged a case alleging that Shelar had raped her in March, 2017 after spiking her cold drink.

She also told police that the accused had recorded the incident and threatened to circulate it. Using the recording, Shelar allegedly raped her on several occasions thereafter, the complainant claimed.

In his plea, filed in the high court through advocate Tanveer Nizam, Shelar claimed he was implicated in a false case and that he never committed any crime. "The FIR has been lodged at the instance of the complainant's husband who got offended with the friendship between the applicant (Shelar) and the complainant," the plea said. The application said the complainant is a police officer herself and hence, is aware of the law and rules.

"The complainant could have easily reported the incident after the very first instance of alleged sexual assault in March, 2017 to seniors, which she has not," Shelar said in his plea. The plea further claimed that the complainant was in touch with Shelar till a few days before lodging the case in November last year.