Maharashtra suspends rape accused police officer Sunil Paraskar

Mumbai: Deputy Inspector General of Police Sunil Paraskar was suspended by the Maharashtra government on Tuesday over the rape charges levelled against him by a model-turned-actress. [caption id=“attachment_1682147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] DIG Sunil Paraskar was suspended today. IBNLive[/caption] Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan signed his suspension papers on Tuesday. The state home department had proposed the suspension of Paraskar. “The proposal to suspend Paraskar has been sent to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan,” a home ministry official told PTI earlier on Tuesday. A court in Mumbai had recently granted him pre-arrest bail, observing the complainant’s behaviour and her e-mail exchange with him suggested consent. Paraskar filed pre-arrest bail application on 25 July, a week after an FIR was registered against him by suburban Malwani Police under Sections 376(2)(rape by a police officer), 376 C (intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc) and 354(D) (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code. The case made it to news headlines when the accused DIG Sunil Paraskar found Shiv Sena backing him. The party, in its mouthpiece Saamna, came out in support of the police officer and in a Times of India report said: “Anyone can slap any charge against anyone. The judicial system has to open its eyes and ensure that justice is served to the innocent.” In the same report, the mouthpiece questioned the model’s intentions to file rape charges against the DIG when everything between the two “was fine” till now. Infact, the advocate defending the DIG, had told a special court that evidence produced by the police “clearly shows she had consensual sex with him." The complainant, a 25-year-old model, alleged that Paraskar (57) molested and sexually assaulted her on two occasions in December 2013. According to her, she had met Paraskar first in 2012 when he was Additional Commissioner of Police with regard to a case. (With inputs from PTI)