Suresh Chavhanke, the editor-in-chief of Hindi news channel Sudarshan News has been charged with rape and criminal intimidation after a 36-year-old woman employee of the company complained to the police. Narayan Sai, son of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, has also been named in the FIR, reports The Indian Express.
“We received a complaint around 15 days ago and the charges were probed. After initial inquiry, an FIR was registered on Thursday on the basis of the complaint at the women police station. The inquiry is still being carried out,” said Dharmendra Singh, SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar.
According to the same complaint filed by the woman, Narayan Sai had also sexually harassed her when she had gone for an interview at his ashram at Karol Bagh, back in 2013.
However, the matter went unreported as her channel’s chief had advised her against it, the police told PTI. Reportedly, she provided the police with some photographs with respect to the case.
Chavhanke has been booked under IPC sections related to rape, sexual assault, harassment and criminal intimidation, while Narayan Sai has been accused of sexual harassment. “The FIR has been registered under the following IPC sections — 406, 420, 376 (rape), 313, 504, 506, 307, 294, 511, 354 and 509,” the police said.
In response, Chavhanke spoke about the case on Twitter. Posting a copy of the FIR on the microblogging website, he wrote, “Mere upar Dawood se zyada dharaon ke saath FIR darj ki gayi. Mujh par aaj tak no parking ka bhi case nahi… (An FIR with more charges than Dawood has been registered against me. Till now, not even a parking case has been registered against me).”
मेरे ऊपर #दाऊद से भी ज्यादा धाराओं के साथ FIR दर्ज की गई।मुझ पर आज तक नो पार्किंग का भी केस नही @yadavakhilesh @rajnathsingh @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/3z4xm5Qxpw
— Suresh Chavhanke STV (@chavhanke) November 2, 2016
