Delhi cop sacked for abetting suicide

A Delhi police inspector was dismissed from service after he was arrested in connection with the suicide of a 25-year-old woman, who left behind a complaint against the officer, accusing him of “torture” and “harassment.”

Inspector Dinesh Kumar, who was posted as the station house officer at the Vijay Vihar police station in Outer Delhi, was sacked on Saturday evening after a thorough inquiry into the matter by an officer of joint commissioner-rank, a senior police officer said. Kumar was arrested early on Saturday under the charge of abetting suicide after the woman, believed to be close to a criminal in Vijay Vihar area, allegedly committed suicide outside Tis Hazari courts complex in North Delhi, leaving behind a suicide note and a five-page complaint against the inspector, accusing him of torturing and harassing her.

“The allegations of torture and harassment by the deceased woman were physical and mental in nature. During the investigation, it was found that Kumar had questioned the woman at the Vijay Vihar police station and videographed the act in violation of rules and regulations. In preliminary investigation, five videos of the woman were found in the mobile phone of the inspector,” the official said.

The deceased woman was close to criminal Ram Niwas of Vijay Vihar area and his wife had lodged a complaint against him and the woman. During the investigation, it was also found that Kumar was in constant touch with Niwas’ wife. In the last six months, he had called her nearly 240 times from his official phone number. Many of those calls were made post-midnight and lasted for over 20 minutes, raising serious concerns over his conduct as a police officer, the official said.

The matter was thoroughly investigated despite no personnel from the Vijay Vihar police station coming forward to depose against the SHO. Kumar was produced at a court on Saturday which sent him to two-day police custody.