(Representational image)The Additional District and Sessions Court of Chandigarh has granted interim (anticipatory) bail to Naveen Kumar (32) who was dismissed as sub-inspector in the wake of allegations that he raped a Mumbai-based model in May. Kumar has also moved Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Chandigarh against his dismissal.
While granting the anticipatory bail, the court of ADJ Poonam R Joshi has directed Kumar to join the investigation.
The accused has been absconding after being booked by Sector 31 police. The woman had alleged that she came in contact with the former SI in May during investigation of a case when he was posted in the Cyber Cell of Chandigarh Police. She was allegedly duped of Rs 10 lakh by a Dhanas resident, Rahul, on the pretext of getting her assignments in Punjabi film industry. Rahul had told the woman that he was a photographer in the Punjabi film industry, she had alleged.
The case was later registered in June, but before it the woman had been visiting Chandigarh and thus met Kumar. The woman had alleged that while she was staying in a hotel at Industrial Area in May, Kumar came there and allegedly raped her.
The police had been conducting raids to arrest the accused since the case was registered on October 18.
In his bail application, filed in the district court on October 31, Kumar had pleaded that he has been falsely implicated in the rape case by senior police officers.
As per Advocate Rajan Lohan, defence counsel, it has also been mentioned in the bail plea that a case pertaining to the matter of Kumar’s dismissal is also filed at CAT.
The Chandigarh Police, opposing the bail plea, mentioned in reply that the accused raped the woman and a case was registered against him. “The accused had been threatening the woman with dire consequences if she discloses it to anyone. Thus the accused shall not be allowed anticipatory bail as he can again threaten the woman and for further investigation of the case, his custodial remand is necessary… his mobile phone is also to be seized to ascertain more details of the case,” read the reply.
In the application moved at CAT, Kumar claimed his dismissal by the department to be illegal and arbitrary. A notice has been issued to the Chandigarh Police, SSP, DSP and an inspector to file reply on the next scheduled date of hearing on December 5. Kumar joined the Chandigarh Police as assistant sub-inspector in October 2012 and since October 2015, he had been posted at Cyber Cell unit and was promoted as SI in 2017.
