Uttarakhand`s Additional Secretary (Home) arrested, sent to jail in rape case

Dehradun: Additional Secretary (Home) of Uttarakhand JP Joshi, who has been charged with raping a young woman on the pretext of providing her a government job, was on Tuesday arrested and remanded in 14-day judicial custody by a local court.

"Joshi was arrested from his Vasant Vihar residence this evening," said RS Meena, IG (Law and Order). According to sources, Joshi was arrested after a probe team, headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Mamta Vohra, got some crucial evidences against the officer. After his arrest, Joshi was produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajiv Kumar. The judge remanded Joshi in 14-day judicial custody. "The arrest has been after collecting some crucial evidences," said BS Sidhu, DGP Uttarakhand. The 29-year-old woman from Dehradun had lodged FIR with Pandav Nagar Police station in Delhi accusing Joshi of raping her. The alleged rape took place in a room in police line officers` club at Nainital. Police recorded statement of the woman after she filed the complaint in Delhi on November 22. She has alleged in the FIR that she was introduced to Joshi by Congress leader Ritu Kandiyal and Dehradun SP (Rural) Bhandari had mounted pressure on her not to go public over the matter. As per the FIR, he even threatened to kill her later. However, soon after the victim lodged the FIR, Joshi refuted the allegations and lodged a complaint against three persons, including the victim, at the city`s Vasant Vihar police station, accusing them of blackmailing him and issuing threats to defame him.