Police constable in Navi Mumbai suspended for rape, goes into hiding

The Navi Mumbai police commissioner, Bipin Kumar Singh, on Thursday suspended a police constable after a rape case was registered against the latter at Khandeshwar police station.

The accused constable, Rupesh Kohli, 23, was a driver with the city crime branch (central unit). He went into hiding after he learnt about the complaint against him and the police are now searching for him.

According to the police, Kohli had met the 23-year-old survivor a few months ago on social media and befriended her. He later established a physical relationship with her promising marriage.

In her statement, the survivor has mentioned that she had conceived and Kohli forcefully got her pregnancy terminated by giving her some medicines. After all these, he refused to marry her.

Bhagawat Sonawane, assistant commissioner of police (Panvel division), said, “The survivor approached the Khandeshwar police four days ago and narrated the entire episode. We booked the accused under Sections 376 (punishment for rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 417 (punishment for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant sections of the Atrocity Act as that is also applicable in this case.”

The police commissioner of Navi Mumbai, Singh, later reviewed the entire case and issued Kohli’s suspension order.

Sonawane said, “Before coming to the police station, the complainant had a fight with the accused and she told him that she was going to register a complaint against him. So, the accused went into hiding to evade arrest. We have sent our teams to different places searching for him and hope to arrest him soon.”