A few days after she filed a complaint alleging that two men had molested her, a Bengaluru woman has now alleged that Assistant Commissioner of Police (Yeshwantpur subdivision) Ravi Prasad also harassed her.
Refuting the woman’s allegations, ACP Ravi Prasad has said that the woman was levying false allegations in order to pressure the police to side with her in a case of dispute she was earlier involved in.
In a letter to Bengaluru Police Commissioner Suneel Kumar, Anita* has alleged that ACP Ravi Prasad asked her to reveal her private parts to him.
On November 17, Anita had filed a complaint at Soladevanahalli Police Station against two men – Hanumanthrayappa and Ravi, alleging that the duo had molested and assaulted her.
“She had alleged that she was made the office bearer of a trust and that Hanumatarayappa and Ravi were not happy about it. She had said that the two men wanted to extract revenge, which is why they had molested her,” Soladevanahalli Police Inspector Venkatesh said.
The Inspector said that investigation had revealed that the woman and the duo had got into a dispute regarding private trusts they were part of and that the woman had filed a false complaint.
On November 18, Anita approached ACP Ravi Prasad in order to express her displeasure against the way the Soladevanahalli Police had conducted the investigation.
Anita, in her complaint to the Police Commissioner, has now alleged that the investigation conducted by the Soladevanahalli Police did not last a day, and when she approached the ACP, he too misbehaved with her
She has claimed that while the ACP took her statement, he asked her to reveal her private parts by saying it was essential to the investigation. When she objected to this, the Soladevanahalli Police Inspector Venkatesh Gowda, who was also present, allegedly yelled and said, “He is a senior officer and you must follow his instructions.”
Anita then approached DCP North Chetan Rathore to lodge a complaint against ACP Ravi Prasad. The DCP directed her to file the complaint with the Police Commissioner.
Speaking to TNM, ACP Prasad said, “Whatever she has said is not true. She had come to the station to file a complaint and I had asked her what had happened. We did not take any action on the complaint she had filed. So she is now complaining to the Commissioner to pressurise us. What we had found was that Hanumantarayappa has formed a trust and the woman is a part of another trust. There is some differences between the members of the two trusts and that’s why she had filed the molestation complaint.”
Meanwhile, Inspector Venkatesh, has claimed that two women police officers were present when Anita’s statement was being taken and that she was asked questions that were relevant to the investigation.
A probe has been ordered on the woman's complaint against ACP Prasad. "I have ordered DCP North Chetan Singh Rathore to probe the allegations of harassment against ACP Ravi Prasad. The ACP of Halasuru Gate Police Station has been put in charge of investigating the allegations of molestation and assault the woman had made earlier this month," said ACP West Malini Krishnamoorthy.