Jalna ‘bait’ gangrape case: Report indicts two junior-rung cops, gives clean chit to seniors

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Responding to a demand by the opposition, CM Devendra Fadnavis had ordered an inquiry to fix the responsibility and find out if there was any negligence on the part of senior police officers. The report submitted earlier this month and accessed by The Indian Express states that Sub Divisional Police officer Dikshit Gedam, Additional Superintendent of Police Rahul Maknikar and Superintendent of Police Jyoti Priya Singh were not informed, either by the Police Inspector or Assistant Police Inspector when they decided to use the victim as a “bait”.

The two officers who hatched the plan tried using the victim as “bait” twice. In the second attempt, the plan failed leading to the girl being raped, according to the report. “Ideally, the two officers should have kept their seniors in the loop regarding the plan but they did not and suo motu decided to lay a trap using the victim as bait,” the report states.

“During the first attempt, when both junior officers were present, the plan failed. The following day (July 9), API Vinod Ejjapwar decided to carry out the plan for the second time when the police inspector was not on duty. Ejjapwar did this to claim credit in the case but the victim was raped for the second time,” an officer told The Indian Express.

The ADGP found no substance in the API defending his action. “The API claimed he was two to three kilometers away from the spot where he had asked the victim to call the accused. The victim was to alert the API by calling him out but her call was not ‘audible’ as the place where the API positioned himself was out of mobile phone network,” the officer added. The inquiry officer recommended departmental action against the two officers.

According to the police, on the evening of July 6, two men accosted the victim and her male companion on Nava Road and dragged her to a nearby forest and raped her. The accused are reported to have taken the victim’s cellphone and shot a video of the incident.

Police said the rapists demanded Rs 2,000 for returning her cellphone. The victim went to Taluka police station to file a complaint at 10 am on July 7. While she was registering the complaint, she received a call from the accused, asking her to come to Mantha Chowk with Rs 2,000 and take the phone. The FIR was left unfinished as police came up with a plan.

Around 2.30 pm, a woman constable escorted the victim in a vehicle to the spot. But they could not nab the accused, probably because they saw her with the officer. The second “trap” was laid on July 9, after the accused asked the victim to meet them and take her phone back.

This time, the victim, who was alone, was intercepted by the accused who allegedly raped her for the second time. The two, Sanjay Rangnath Hawre, 24, and Nitin Salve, 20, were subsequently arrested from the railway station while trying to flee Jalna.