Woman SI arrested for taking Rs 20 lakh bribe from rape accused in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, July 6

A woman police sub-inspector (SI) has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a rape accused for not charging him under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, police said on Sunday.

Shweta Jadeja, who was the in-charge of Mahila police station in Ahmedabad-West, had allegedly demanded Rs 35 lakh from the brother of Kenal Shah, against whom she was investigating a rape case registered in 2019, a police official said.

She demanded the money for not booking Shah under provisions of the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA) Act, where the police can send an accused to a jail outside his native district, he said.

As per the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the city crime branch, Jadeja accepted Rs 20 lakh through a middleman and demanded an additional Rs 15 lakh from the rape case accused.

The complainant gave Rs 20 lakh to Jadeja in February, and she was forcing him to pay the remaining amount, the FIR said.

She was arrested on Friday and a case was registered against her under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the official said.

She was on Saturday produced before a sessions court where police sought her remand for seven days.

The court, however, granted three-day remand to the police for further investigation, public prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt said.

“The main point is the police need to recover Rs 20 lakh accepted by the accused. So far, the investigation has revealed the bribe money was accepted by a middleman,” the prosecutor said.

Shah is the managing director of a crop solution company in Ahmedabad and is facing two separate rape cases under Indian Penal Code Section 376, one of which was being investigated by Jadeja. —PTI