Officer investigating Jaipur rape case removed from posting

Jaipur, July 30: The officer-in-charge investigating the rape case lodged by a woman, who died after setting herself on fire at a police station here demanding the arrest of the accused, has been removed from his posting, an official said on Tuesday.

Vaishali Nagar police station incharge Sanjay Godara will be under awaiting posting orders (APO) status till an investigation is over. The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch of the CID, Additional Commissioner of Police Santosh Chalke said.

The ACP said it would be probed whether there was any lapse in the investigation conducted by the officer. The 36-year-old woman immolated herself at the police station premises on Sunday while demanding arrest of her husband's relative for allegedly raping her. She succumbed to injuries at a hospital here on Monday, an officer said.

Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal told reporters in the assembly on Tuesday that the station house officer would be suspended and the case would now be investigated by an additional SP-rank officer of the CID-CB.

Meanwhile, a member of National Commission for Women has reached Jaipur to meet the deceased's family and visit the police commissionerate, former state women's commission member Suman Sharma said. The woman had lodged an FIR in June against her husband's cousin, Ravindra Singh, alleging that he had raped her in 2015. The police, however, had said the accused was not arrested as it claimed that allegations against him were "not found" to be true in an investigation, which is still underway.

According to a probe, the police said, the woman and the man were having an affair since October 2015 but he got engaged in April this year, which led to a rift in their relationship. "The woman was unhappy with his engagement. Their discord appears to the reason behind the registration of the FIR," the police had claimed.

According to the police, the woman did not have a good relationship with her husband, who retired from the Army, and they had filed for divorce. However, her husband accompanied her when she visited the police station to register the complaint on June 5.