Bhandara rape: Two policemen suspended, one transferred for dereliction of duty
The incident created a public outcry following which Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Ragsudha R., a woman IPS officer, who is presently a commandant in State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Jalna.
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After raping her, the accused left her at the spot and fled. They also took away her wallet and mobile phone.The Maharashtra government on Monday suspended two police personnel from Bhandara district and transferred another for dereliction of duty after a woman was raped multiple times. Two men have been arrested for gang-raping the 35-year-old woman in Bhandara on August 1 and a third accused is wanted for raping her in Gondia district on July 30 and 31.
Bhandara police superintendent Lohit Matani said, “We suspended a sub inspector and an assistant sub inspector, and transferred a constable as they failed to take appropriate action. The woman spent the night at the police station [after the first sexual assault] and proper action was not taken.”
The incident created a public outcry following which Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Ragsudha R., a woman IPS officer, who is presently a commandant in State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Jalna.
The victim is a resident of Gondia district who lived with her sister after separating from her husband. Early on July 30, she left home after a petty fight with her niece and decided to head to her brother’s place in Gondia district.
In the evening, she was waiting at a bus stop in Gondia when the first accused, who identified himself as Sriram Urkude, offered her a lift to her brother’s home in his pick-up van. Instead, he took her to another place where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. On July 31 evening, Urkude allegedly abandoned her in the neighbouring Bhandara district.
One of the villagers informed the police and the woman was taken to Lakhani police station where she spent the night in the ladies’ room. Around 7am on August 1, she told the police she wanted to have tea and left, but never returned.
While the officials on duty did not take her to a shelter home or inform her family, they also failed to track her down. The same evening, around 8.30 pm, the woman was reportedly sitting near a dhaba on Dhule-Kolkata highway when the second accused, Mohamed Ijaz Mohamed Ansari, 22, spotted her.
Ansari, a native of Bihar, works at a puncture shop. He reportedly took the victim on his bike to an isolated spot and raped her. The third accused, Amit Sarve, 30, alias Luka, a labourer and a local resident, allegedly followed them. He also reportedly raped her. The entire incident occurred between 10.30 pm and 12 am.
They then abandoned the woman on the highway. Police sources said villagers found the woman in a dishevelled state on August 2 morning. She was bleeding and was rushed to a nearby hospital before being shifted to a government hospital in Nagpur where she is said to be out of danger. Ansari and Sarve have been arrested.
“Based on information from our informers, we arrested the two accused. We have registered a case of gangrape,” said R V Thorat, senior inspector of Kardha police station in Bhandara district.
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