Chhattisgarh minor’s rape at railway shelter: 2 more staffers of NGO held; SC/ST Atrocities Act invoked

Those arrested on Tuesday have been identified as Karan Kisan Rathod (30), a resident of Khadakwasla, and Sushmita Kasbe (24), who hails from Solapur. The duo are employees of the NGO and were involved in day-to-day operations.

Earlier, police arrested Kamlesh Tiwari (50), a member of the NGO, and are on the lookout for head constable of Railway Protection Force (RPF) Anil Pawar, who is on the run. Tiwari and Pawar had allegedly sextually assaulted the girl on multiple occasions during her five- day confinement at the shelter. “The arrested employees were aware of the modus operandi of the NGO and were involved in the extortion operation,” said Rajendra Gaikwad, police Inspector, GRP.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahesh Devikar produced the accused persons in court seeking seven-day remand of Rathod and Kasbe, claiming that they were aware of Pawar’s whereabouts and that Rs 6,000 extorted from the couple was deposited in Rathod’s bank account. The court sent them to police custody till November 12. “We have added sections of the Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Actas the girl belongs to a Scheduled Caste,” said Devikar.

Additional sessions judge S R Narwade, who heard the remand plea, observed, “The offence is very serious. The investigation in respect of getting transfer of money from the victim is also necessary. In my view, a fair opportunity should be given to investigating machinery to make proper and detailed investigation.”

‘He was on leave’

Karan Rathod’s mother Anita said her son worked at the shelter for merely three months and had joined it on the recommendation of a policeman working at the station.

“He is a home guard and used to work at the station whenever they required additional manpower. After liking his work, one of the policemen recommended him to Anil Pawar. He joined the shelter three months ago. He was not aware about the case and was on leave when this incident occurred. On the day, the girl’s parents came to Pune to take her back, Karan was summoned to work. That was the only time he was there,” said Anita.

Karan’s mother added that he followed the boss’ instructions in getting beggars and others romaing in the station premises to the shelter. “He wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing,” said Anita adding that Karan has a three-year-old son and that he is the sole breadwinner of the family.

Speaking to The Indian Express on November 1, Kasbe had claimed she joined the shelter in July this year and that her job was to primarily look for homeless persons on the station and bring them to the shelter.

“I was here when the girl was here. I did not notice anything wrong. I had spoken to her and asked her if she was comfortable. She hadn’t complained about anything to me,” Kasbe had shared on November 1.

Search for Pawar

DCP Devikar said several teams have been formed to trace RPF head Constable Anil Pawar, who is allegedly the main culprit in the case. He was untraceable since October 31 when the case came to the GRP Pune from Bemetara in Chhattisgarh.

According to police, the girl, a Class X student from Bemetara district, eloped with her boyfriend on September 9 and the couple landed in Pune on September 13. While at the station, they were approached by volunteers of Siddharth Multipurpose Society, who took them to the RPF police station.

RPF head constable Anil Pawar then took them to Sassoon General Hospital for a medical check-up without recording the couple’s detention at the station and then sent them to the shelter house, where he and Tiwari allegedly repeatedly raped the girl till September 17, when her father visited the shelter and took her back home.