Four constables, woman arrested for blackmailing farmer in false rape case

According to the police, the accused had implicated the victim, Hira Patel, a resident of Rajkot, in a false rape case by involving a prostitute. Preliminary investigations by the Rajkot city crime branch pointed out that the accused may have blackmailed several others in a similar fashion to make quick money.

The four constables have been identified as Deepak Bamta, Dhiru Karshan, Mavji Dangar and Abdul Hussain (taluka police). All four were suspended on Wednesday and produced in court by the police to seek a 10-day remand. The woman has been identified as Kiran, a resident of Gandhigram.

Patel, who has a farm house in Targadhi on Jamnagar Road, told the police that last month, he had paid Rs 10,000 to the accused, who threatened to lodge a rape complaint against him after he gave lift to a woman up to Greenland Chowkdy from Ramdham Mandir near Maliya Sarani.

Patel said in his complaint that on October 23, a woman, aged around 30, asked for lift in his Indica when he was returning home from the farm house. Later, she got down at Greenlad Chowkdy. Hours after he had reached his home in LG Park on Kuwadva Road, two constables, Abdul and Barot, came to his house and asked him to come to the Zanana Hospital for a medical check up, as a woman had accused him of raping her.

Thereafter, Patel was forcefully taken to the Zanana Hospital. According to Patel, while he maintained that he had only given lift to the woman in his car, the constables said a case will not be registered if he will come to an understanding with the woman.

The accused asked Patel to pay a certain amount to the woman to save himself from complaint. Though Patel said he was innocent, the constables maintained that they had the medical report of the woman, confirming rape. The accused allegedly asked for Rs 50,000 and the matter was finally settled at Rs 10,000.

According to the crime branch officials, there is a possibility of the accused employing a similar modus operandi to blackmail others as well.

“It seems that many innocent people have become their victims,” a crime branch official said.