Ahmedabad gang-rape victim moves Gujarat HC to shift probe from Crime Branch
Ahmedabad, July 2: The father of a 22-year-old alleged gangrape victim here approached the Gujarat High Court on Monday seeking transfer of investigations from the Crime Branch to any other agency, a day after the victim levied allegations against the probe agency.
"According to Section 164 (of the Criminal Procedure Code), the victim's statement should have been recorded before a magistrate within 48 hours of the complaint, but police have not done so. So we approached the high court seeking that. The Gujarat HC has now sought response from police and the government. It would hear the plea on Tuesday after 2.30 p.m.," said Dakshesh Mehta, the victim's lawyer.
The case of the gang-rape in a moving SUV came to light last week when the victim filed a police complaint. Following the complaint, seven persons, including two women, were booked. The victim stated that she was not just raped but the accused also filmed the horrific incident and later blackmailed her with the footage.
She named three persons, including Vrishab Maru, Gaurav Dalmia and Yamini Nair.
Even as the city police's Crime Branch claimed to have moved onwards with the investigations, the victim on Sunday alleged, at a media briefing, that the head of Ahmedabad Crime Branch, Joint Commissioner of Police J.K. Bhatt was asking her weird questions and pushed her to reach a compromise with the accused.
"The Joint Commissioner said that I levied allegations because of my break up with Gaurav, one of the accused, and that he can never commit such a crime as he is (docile) like a cow!" the victim said.
Following the allegations, authorities replaced Bhatt with Shweta Shrimali, DCP, Zone-4 as in-charge of the investigations. "Bhatt requested himself to be excused from the case as aspersions were being cast against his integrity and investigations. We accepted his request," said Ahmedabad's Commissioner of Police A.K. Singh.
In another related development, the family of accused Vrishabh, came out in his support, claiming that he did not even know the victim and that the social media account which has been quoted by the victim was a fake one.
In a media briefing, Vrishabh's father said: "Vrishabh was in Madhya Pradesh and had switched off his phone as he got scared on learning about the complaint. He is incommunicado. Vrishabh is not involved in this. We demand a detailed investigation in the case."
Aggresively backing her son, his mother said: "The girl does not even remember when she was raped, which date. There is no witness or proof on wooden log being inserted in her private parts as claimed by her. Where is the CCTV proof or any witness," she asked.
Meanwhile, prime accused Gaurav stated that he is willing to undergo a lie detection as well as narco-analysis test to prove his innocence.
Meanwhile, Gujarat State Women Commission chairperson, Leelaben Ankolia, who visited the victim and her family on the day after the complaint was lodged, on Monday, said: "We have asked police to send us an action report within seven days from the complaint. We will ensure that the victim daughter gets justice."
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
