CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: The Beed police booked and arrested a constable on charges of raping a woman on Saturday.
The woman alleged that the constable — serving with the Patoda police station, under Gevrai tehsil — had called her and asked her to meet him for an International Women’s Day event on Saturday. An officer privy to the investigation said the medical examination substantiated the woman’s allegations of rape.
The 35-year-old constable, Uddhav Gadkar, was arrested late on Saturday. On Sunday, he was produced before a court, which remanded him in police custody until March 12.
Inspector Somnath Jadhav, of the Patoda police station, told TOI: “The woman was allegedly raped around 11am. Later, she reached out to the police, and following due process, an FIR was registered without any delay.” The officer, citing the preliminary investigation, said the accused and the victim came in contact with each other a while ago when the woman had visited the police station with a domestic violence complaint. At that time, the accused had taken her contact number, and over some time, they had spoken to each other on multiple occasions.
Police said the accused contacted the woman on Saturday morning and summoned her near a nationalised bank’s premises, from where he took her to a secluded area and allegedly raped her. The woman, in her complaint, said the accused threatened to frame her in a theft case if she told anyone of the rape. However, the woman reached the police station in the afternoon and lodged a complaint against the constable, who was immediately booked and arrested.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
