Police have registered a case against a woman and three others after she allegedly leveled a "fabricated" gang-rape charge in an attempt to grab property. Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Wednesday said that the 36-year-old woman was found wrapped in a jute bag, with her hands and legs tied, and an iron rod was inserted in her private parts.
However, the Ghaziabad police on Thursday dismissed as "fabricated" the Delhi woman's claim that she had been raped and brutalised by five men and that a had been hatched over a dispute over a "small" property. The National Commission for Women has also said that contradictory statements were made by the woman and her family members.
On Friday, Circle Officer (City-2) Alok Dubey said that the woman and her accomplices Azad, Afzal and Gaurav have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine any document which the person knows or has reason to believe to be forged).
Of the initial five suspects, the Ghaziabad police on Wednesday had said that four people had been taken into custody following the allegation of the woman. During a press conference on Thursday, when asked if a clean chit will be given to the four of them, Inspector General, Meerut, Praveen Kumar, said, "We have not got any evidence against them...Prima facie, in this case, no such incident has taken place. So, there is no question of getting evidence."
On the women's claim that she was kidnapped, the officer had said," No. She had gone to a designated place at her own will." Chats analysed by police also show that money was also paid to individuals to publicise the case, he had said. The woman claimed that she was raped by five men for two days.
DCW chief Maliwal had said the incident reminded her of the Nirbhaya case. She was referring to the brutal gang-rape and assault of a 23-year-old paramedic student on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. The DCW had also issued a notice to Ghaziabad police in connection with the case.
On Thursday, Inspector General Kumar had also said that during investigation, it was found that Azad's phone was switched off around the time the woman purportedly disappeared. On the property dispute, he said the dispute was about a "small" property. "A woman named Sameena gave the property to Azad in 2021 who in turn gave its power of attorney to a man named Deepak Joshi. There was talk about giving this property to the Delhi woman. The case regarding this was going on in the court, the officer said.
Authorities at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital had on Wednesday said the woman's condition is stable and no internal injury has been found yet. Nipun Agarwal, Superintendent of Police (City-I) Ghaziabad, on Wednesday had said the victim claimed that after raping her, the accused had inserted an iron rod in her private part but when the police tried to get her medically examined at a Meerut hospital, she refused. "Doctors then referred her to the Meerut Medical College for treatment but she refused to go there as well. The woman was then taken to a Delhi hospital," the SP had said.
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