'Threatened', 'pressurised' by top cop to alter FIR, says 22-yr-old gangrape victim

Ahmedabad: A 22-year-old woman, who alleged she was gangraped in a moving SUV in March, on Sunday accused a top police officer of “threatening” her to alter the FIR.

Talking to local news channels, the woman alleged that Joint Commissioner of Police JK Bhatt had threatened and pressurised her to convert the FIR lodged by her into a cheating case.

However, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner AK Singh said he had full faith in the investigating team.

Singh said the police are only trying to resolve the “material contradictions” that have emerged during the investigation of the case.

“I am being repeatedly summoned by the police. I am also being threatened and pressurised by JK Bhatt to change the FIR. He accused me of lying and asked me to change the FIR to a cheating case. He behaves with me as if I am the criminal,” the victim claimed.

She alleged that the officer posed vulgar questions to her.

“He (Bhatt) said that (the main) accused (Vrishabh) cannot do such an act. He is trying to defend the accused,” she alleged and demanded that her statement be recorded before a magistrate.

Addressing a press conference, the police commissioner said the police have summoned and interrogated two of the three accused in the case and also recorded the statement of the victim.

“As the police commissioner, I have full faith in the investigating team. The track record of the investigating team is exemplary. We have taken the complaint made by the victim very seriously. I will probe into it and take corrective action,” he told reporters.

Bhatt was seated beside Singh at the press conference, but didn’t speak.

“The material contradiction (emerging following the interrogation) is very strong, which can cause fatal damage to the investigation. If the investigation agency cannot take care of these contradictions, the case may fail at the trial stage itself. So it is vital to resolve the contradictions,” Singh added.

He said it’s the main responsibility of the police to bring out the truth in the case.

“A victim support team has been formed since the start of the investigation, which also includes a counsellor who stays with the victim when her statement is being recorded. It is our challenge to win the confidence of the complainant and her family members,” Singh said.

The police commissioner said that police also have responsibility towards the accused.

“We have to follow the due process of law and bring out the truth behind the incident, so as to collect prosecutable evidence against the accused,” he added.

In a complaint lodged with Satellite police station in Ahmedabad last Thursday, the woman alleged that four unidentified people in masks had abducted her from Nehrunagar area of the city in March 2017 in an SUV and that two of them raped her and filmed the act to blackmail her.

The woman had also stated that she was abducted again in the same SUV by three of the four accused on June 27 night from Maninagar area and molested before she was allowed to go.

While releasing her, one of the accused had told her that she was raped and molested at the behest of her boyfriend, the complaint stated.

Police had booked seven persons, including two women and the boyfriend of the victim, under different sections of the Indian Penal Code including abduction and rape.