Park Street SI arrested for molesting civic volunteer
Times of India | 8 October 2024
Kolkata: Kolkata Police sub-inspector, Abhishek Roy, accused of sexually abusing a 25-year-old woman civic volunteer working with him at the Park Street police station on Oct 5, was finally arrested by the city police on Monday. The incident allegedly took place inside the Park Street police station. Cops are also moving a local court to get the victim’s statement recorded before a magistrate at the earliest.
Cops said the ongoing probe will also decide the fate of the duty officer who had allegedly not registered the victim’s original complaint. According to the complaint, sergeant Ranbir Das was in the duty officer’s chair when she had tried to lodge a complaint. However, he dismissed the matter after hearing it.
Earlier, after the complaint came to light on Sunday, Lalbazar immediately suspended Roy and an investigation was initiated. A case under BNS 74 (assault or use of criminal force against women with intent to outrage modesty of woman) was lodged.
The sub-inspector was arrested on Monday morning, but it is not yet known what evidence has been found to support the allegations against him. The accused, a 2009 batch officer, was asked to be present at Lalbazar on Sunday and detained from there. He was arrested when he failed to reply to questions by investigators. Simultaneously, Lalbazar initiated a departmental investigation by closing the sub-inspector after lodging a FIR. Sources reveal that CP Manoj Verma himself ordered the SI’s arrest, leading to his detention on Sunday night.
According to her complaint, the woman has been working as a civic volunteer since 2017. She got the job after her brother died of a cerebral stroke at a young age. She alleged that on Friday, she joined work at 9 pm. At 1.10 am, the sub-inspector allegedly called her to the third-floor resting room of the police station complex. He gave her a new dress, and as she took it, he first touched her inappropriately and when she resisted, tried to force himself upon her. The SI was inebriated, she claimed.
She has said that the SI had earlier behaved inappropriately in the police station’s computer room on Sept 25.