(Representational Image)
As part of the procedure to investigate the accusation of rape against Gujarat BJP leader and former Abdasa MLA Jayanti Bhanushali, Surat Police Friday pasted a notice outside the victim’s residence, identifying her by name and asking her to appear before the police with her father. In her application to the Surat police department on July 10, the 21-year old woman had accused Bhanushali of raping her. The application was forwarded to Kapodara police station.
Bhanushali was asked by the BJP leadership to step down from his post until the investigations cleared his name. Bhanushali was vice-president of the Gujarat BJP until Friday.
According to the police, all efforts to locate the woman failed, following which Kapodara police pasted a letter written in Gujarati and signed by Kapodara Police Inspector R L Dave on the wall next to the door of her residence.
The letter addressed to her father, says, “This is to inform you that your application has reached the Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 1 office, on July 12….Following the application, you and your daughter should remain present before Kapodara police for getting the statements, or contact on the mobile number of police.” It also mentions the father’s mobile number.
Dave said, “We sent our teams to the house multiple times and took statements of neighbours. They told us they didn’t know anything …We pasted the letter on the wall of her house when all our efforts to locate her failed.”
When The Indian Express correspondent reached the woman’s residence, it was locked. One of the neighbours said the family had recently shifted elsewhere.