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BSP leader's son abducts, rapes 22-year-old woman in moving car

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Rape survivor's friends, not cops, trace assailant

BANGALORE: Is someone in the city police conspiring with the accused in the case of the July 11 rape of a 22-year-old student in Fraser Town and putting her and the prime witness at risk? It seems to be so since the woman and her male friend have been getting threat calls on a number to which only the police have access.The survivor and her boyfriend, who was with her when she was raped in his moving car, alleged on Wednesday that they were getting threats from persons claiming to be acting at the behest of the accused. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the callers threatened them with dire consequences if they didn’t withdraw the complaint.Police sources confirmed the woman and her friend had been whisked away to a safe location and were reachable to the police only on exclusive telephone numbers. They admitted there appeared to be a weak link in their protection plan.The woman and her friend called on city police commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar on Wednesday. She sought police protection in the light of the threat calls. According to sources, she expressed fears a suspended inspector might derail the investigation since he was trying to shield the prime accused and others.The woman’s boyfriend told Auradkar he had been getting threat calls and callers were asking him to withdraw the complaint. “I’ve directed investigating officials to record another statement from the victim and her friend, and investigate the threat calls,” Auradkar told TOI.Police sources said main accused Naseer Hyder, 23, who is behind bars, was closely associated with a constable from Pulakeshinagar police station where the woman filed the complaint. The constable was allegedly instrumental in getting the inspector to force the woman to tone down her complaint and make it a case of outraging of modesty. Later, the inspector was suspended and the charges escalated to include rape.“Hyder is said to have contacted this constable soon after he discovered that the woman and her friend were filing a police complaint,” a source said. “This constable called a politician who was in Shivajinagar at that time and that politician called inspector Mohammed Rafiq, directing him not to accept the complaint.”Hyder is the son of Sheikh Bahadur, a BSP leader who has contested few assembly and Lok Sabha elections .