SP Salwinder Singh booked in rape case

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, August 4

The police have registered a rape case against SP Salwinder Singh after the victim’s husband filed a complaint on the CM’s online sangat darshan seeking action against the officer.

The SP had shot to infamy after a group of terrorists had kidnapped him nearly 30 hours before they stomed Pathankot Air Force station on January 2.

The case was registered after Pathankot SP (H) GS Khurana conducted a probe in the case. The DIG (Border), Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, had received a complaint from the Director, Bureau of Investigation.

An internal inquiry is being conducted by IG Gurpreet Kaur Deo into the sexual harassment charges levelled against him by Gurdaspur-based women police personnel.

SSP Jagdeep Singh Hundal said a case under Section 376- C (rape by a public servant after taking advantage of his official position) of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act had been made out against Salwinder. The SP could face a jail term of seven years for the rape offence if convicted.

“We hope to arrest him soon,” he added.

The complainant is a resident of Geeta Bhawan road, Gurdaspur. Sources reveal that the husband told the inquiry officer that Salwinder Singh was probing a criminal case registered against him (the husband) following which the SP regularly visited their house. On one such visit, the SP asked the victim to pay Rs 50,000 and also pressurised her to develop physical intimacy with him if she wanted her husband to be exonerated in the case.