Three Panchayti Raj officers accused of raping ex-colleague, along with two others: Police

Five men, including three officers and a clerk of the Deoria district's Panchayati Raj Department, have been booked on charges of raping a former woman computer operator of the department, police said on Monday.

The Deoria's Kotwali police lodged the FIR against the five after the victim approached the district Superintendent of Police Sripati Mishra alleging that the local police was dilly-dallying in lodging the case on her complaint.

Quoting from the woman's complaint, the police superintendent said the woman was earlier working as a computer operator in the Deoria's Panchayati Raj Department on contractual basis but had been later removed from the job.

In her complaint, she said, she later came in contact of one Ramdhanesh Yadav, a Panchati Raj Department clerk who assured her of getting her job restored and asked her to meet him at a house in government colony near Postmortem Chauraha in Deoria on August 16.

She said as she reached there on the August 16 evening, she found five persons, including District Panchayti Raj Officer Om Prakash Pandey, Assistant Panchayat Raj Officer Nityanand, Assistant Development Officer (Panchayat) Dinanath waiting there along with the clerk and one Rishikesh Tewari, a contractor.

The SP said the woman alleged that the five raped her there and then dropped her near her village after threatening her with dire consequences if she dared lodging any complaint with the police.

"She said she tried lodging an FIR on September 2, but the police did not oblige her after which she met me," SP Mishra said.

A case of gang rape under section 376 D of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged against the five accused," said the SP, adding the probe has been initiated and strict action will be taken against the culprits.