Mumbai:
A senior Mumbai police officer, who was accused of raping a model in 2013, will not face trial as he has been discharged by a sessions court.
The Mumbai Police had investigated the case after the model filed a complaint in 2014 and filed a chargesheet against Deputy Inspector General of Police Sunil Paraskar. The officer had always maintained that he did not rape the model.
Mr Paraskar had been suspended by the government after the chargesheet was filed.
The complainant's former lawyer Advocate Chitra Salunkhe told NDTV, "We cannot interfere in the court's process. But the court order does not mean that the matter ends here. I think the complainant or the prosecution will definitely appeal against the order."
A First Information Report was registered against Mr Paraskar by suburban Malwani police under sections 376(2)(rape by a police officer), 376 C (intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc) and 354(D) (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code.
The model had claimed that she had met DIG Paraskar when he was posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (North Region) and Mr Paraskar had raped her twice in 2013.
Mr Paraskar's lawyer had argued that the allegations against the officer were false and said the delay in registration of FIR points towards this.
Advocate Rizwan Merchant told NDTV, "The discharge application filed in the court was allowed on the ground that the charges filed by the prosecution against Sunil Paraskar were groundless. Our understanding of a groundless charge is that the allegations in the first information report (FIR) were false and fabricated. You don't expect a woman to keep quiet for seven and a half months after she is raped and after being raped you don't present your tormentor with gifts and send loving messages to him. Electronic evidence compiled by the crime branch also showed that the complaint was false."