Alleged sexual harassment | ‘Fake letter’ was written by constable, on the run: Police

As per a source involved with the probe, the crime branch recorded statements of over 10 persons as well as constables mentioned in the letter and other personnel working in the department. “Nobody made any allegations about any such behaviour at the unit,” a source said. Regarding who had posted the letter, an official said that as part of the probe, the police found that a constable posted at the unit who was absconding since the past few weeks was responsible for sending the letter, which was eventually leaked on social media.

“After the matter was leaked on social media platforms, he confided in two of his colleagues that he had made the mistake of sending the letter. Since then he has been missing,” a source said. The source said that there had been animosity between two factions formed at the unit and suspect it to be the reason for the constable having written the letter.

A “fake letter” allegedly written by eight women constable drivers was leaked on social media in which serious allegations of rape, sexual harassment and corruption were made against a Deputy Commissioner of Police and two police inspectors of the motor vehicle department. The Joint Commissioner (Administration) also asked for an enquiry to be conducted into the incident. A source said that the scope of the enquiry was to check if the allegations were correct and that the report submitted mentioned the allegations made in the letter were false.

Following this, an FIR was registered at the Nagpada police station against unidentified persons under sections 500 (defamation), 506 (criminal intimidation, 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 465 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code and also under relevant sections of the IT Act on January 9. Nearly 10 days later, the case was transferred to the Mumbai crime branch for further probe.

The three-page letter, which was widely shared on social media in January alleged that the three officers had taken the eight woman constables to their official residence and sexually assaulted them. Police said that the case was filed for allegedly writing inaccurate details and submitting the same to the chief minister, deputy chief minister and other senior officials from the department. The investigators further added that the letter is suspected to have been dispatched via Speed Post from Dadar. The officer said that since the area near the Dadar post office from where the letter was sent does not have a CCTV camera, they were initially finding it difficult to find out who posted the letter.