Top Gurgaon police officers spat, Haryana DGP orders enquiry

Gurgaon/Chandigarh: Gurgaon's Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Bharti Arora has accused her boss, Navdeep Singh Virk, of harassment and wrongly interfering in the enquiry into a high-profile rape case, leading to the Haryana police chief ordering an enquiry, by a senior police officer, into the accusations levelled by two against each other.

Haryana's Director General of Police Yashpal Singhal told media in Chandigarh on Tuesday that the issue will be enquired into by a senior officer into the open spat between both officers.

Arora has accused Virk, who is the Gurgaon commissioner of police, of "harassment and mental torture" and wrongly interfering in the enquiry into a high-profile rape case, involving the son of an Indian Administrative Service officer.

She has also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the matter. Virk, however, denied the allegations.

"I have received a communication from Mrs Bharti Arora and also from the Commissioner of Police Navdeep Virk. We are getting the matter examined by a senior officer. We will ensure that justice is done in the matter," Singhal told media.

Ajay Bhardwaj, an MNC executive and the son of Gurgaon's former deputy commissioner RP Bhardwaj was booked for rape and his family members for criminal intimidation last year.

The complainant was Bhardwaj's former live-in partner, a resident of Ardee City Gurgaon, with whom she has a child.

Bhardwaj was arrested by Gurgaon police from his office in Noida on August 1, 2014.

Arora told media persons in Gurgaon that she has written to the DGP to "demand high-level probe, including CBI, into the wrongly interference by Virk in the alleged rape case".

It was established during the investigation that Bhardwaj and his family were intentionally implicated in the rape case, she said.

The officer said that complainant had earlier too had slapped such charges on two men.

"When I started investigation into the rape case I realised that the commissioner of police has falsely implicated the entire family in the case. I objected and told him this is wrong. Then he started torturing me mentally, threatened me and said, 'leave the case, otherwise you will suffer'," she said.

Arora had written to Singhal against Virk, seeking his intervention, saying she feared that Virk might harm her career.

Virk has also sent a report to the DGP alleging that Bharti is bent on saving the rape accused as his sister is known to her.

The controversy started in July last year when Arora was asked to probe the case. At that time, Virk was not posted as Gurgaon police chief.

She claimed that she carried out the investigation and found that the offences mentioned in the FIR could not be made out but Virk wanted to indict the accused.

Virk, responding to the allegations, said: "I am sad that the valued colleague had to issue false statements in the media in matters which are official and under the consideration of the police headquarters, to hide her own misconduct."

He claimed the concerned officer is levelling such false allegations to hide her own illegal actions as a report for taking action against her has been sent to the Haryana police chief.

"The rape victim has also been given security on the orders of the Supreme Court and she has made several complaints about the misconduct of JCP Arora," Virk added.