Police 'botched up' rape case, Court orders inquiry

Criticising the "shoddy and unintelligible" probe by Delhi Police in a rape case, a court here has ordered inquiry against the investigating officers to find out if the "botched up investigation was motivated or was due to complete lack of competence".

Additional Sessions Judge Nisha Saxena directed DCP (north east) to inquire the role of investigating officers in a rape case against the accused who were acquitted once and then retried in another criminal case without police having collected any concrete evidence.

"I feel the way and the manner in which investigation was conducted in the instant case in utter disregard of law, calls for enquiry into the actions of concerned police officials to ascertain if it was motivated or was due to complete lack of knowledge/competence," the court said.

The prosecution case originates from an FIR lodged in 2006 on the complaint of a woman that she was raped by three men - Vinod, Suresh and Brahmpal. She said that on the pretext of helping her financially, Vinod, a milk supplier, took her to a jungle in Usmanpur here on March 17, 2006 where he and the co-accused raped her.

However, in her statement recorded by the magistrate, she stated she had falsely accused the trio on the instigation of one Adesh for Rs 3,000 as they had implicated Adesh's brother in a criminal case.

She also said that in pursuance of their conspiracy, Adesh took her to the jungle where she was raped by two men so that her medical examination confirmed the sexual assault.

Based on this statement, the police filed a case against one Ram Kumar whose alias was mentioned as Adesh and his two accomplices Bijender and Nem Singh but could not explain where and when were they arrested.

During trial, the woman again took a somersault and denied all allegations against Adesh, Bijender and Singh leading to their acquittal.