Panchayati raj officer among five booked for gang rape in Deoria

Four officials, including a district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) and his deputy, and a contractor were booked for raping a woman who worked as a contractual computer operator in their office at the panchayati raj department in Deoria, the district police chief said on Monday. The alleged incident took place on August 16 evening, the woman said in her complaint to the police.

Superintendent of police Sripati Mishra said, “A case under Section 376 D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code was lodged against five people, including district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) Om Prakash Pandey, assistant district panchayat raj officer Nityanand, clerk Ramdhanesh Yadav, assistant development officer (panchayati raj) Dinanath and contractor Rishikesh Tewari, on the written complaint of the woman. A probe has been initiated and strict action will be taken against the culprits.”

The FIR was registered following the direction of SP Sripati Mishra, whom the woman met after the police failed to act on her repeated complaints.

The woman lost her job in July-end. Later, she came in contact with Ramdhanesh Yadav, a clerk at Vikas Bhawan, who called her to government quarters on the pretext of helping her get her job back, according to the complaint.

When the women reached the place, she found the accused already waiting in the room. They overpowered her and took turns to outrage her modesty, the woman alleged in her complaint.  The woman also alleged that the accused issued a death threat to her if she disclosed the matter to anyone.

The woman also alleged the accused used to send vulgar messages to her on her phone. She gave the police some audio clips about a telephonic conversation, which contained objectionable comments.

First Published: Sep 09, 2019 20:18 IST