Bhopal Gang Rape: MP Government Suspends 5 Policemen Over 'Botched' Probe

Bhopal: As the outrage over gang rape of a 19-year-old girl and subsequent police inaction grew, the Madhya Pradesh government on Friday suspended five police officials while removed a City SP over botched-up handling of the case.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan summoned senior police officers and reportedly expressed strong displeasure over the handling of the case.

Soon after the meeting, police headquarters issued suspension orders against Thana In-charge of MP Nagar Sanjay Singh Bais; Habibganj TI Ravindra Yadav and GRP station Habibganj TI Mohit Saxena. SP, MP Nagar, Kulwant Singh was attached to police headquarters as punitive measure, IG (Law and Order) Makrand Deuskar told the media.

Two sub-inspectors of MP Nagar police station and GRP station have also been suspended, said Deuskar, claiming that the two police officers were found guilty of not registering the FIR on the complaint of the victim.

“A Special Investigation Team led by DIG (Crimes against Women) has been established for probing into the incident,” added the IG accepting that there has been a remiss on part of the police in this case.

Meanwhile, GRP station’s slackness was once again exposed on Friday as a suspect arrested by turned out to not be the accused named by the survivor. The arrested man said that he worked as driver and was out of city on the day of the incident, a claim supported by his family and friends.

“Six teams have been formed for nabbing the fourth accused,” the IG said.

The prime accused in the case, Golu Chadha, was produced in the court on Friday. He claimed that he and his friends only beat up and looted the survivor but did not rape her.

The incident occurred on October 31 while the girl was crossing a road close to Habibganj railway station on Oct 31 was intercepted by the four accused who dragged her to bushes and raped her for three hours.

Subsequently, the girl’s family was made to run among three police stations and senior officer at GRP station even termed the complaint ‘filmy’. The first accused was nabbed by girl’s parents.

On Friday, the outrage continued with various political parties including Congress and AAP besides several social organisations protesting against the gang rape and subsequent police inaction.