Ahmedabad police have given a clean chit to the chairman and managing director of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Rajiv Modi, in connection with the rape charges levelled against him by a Bulgarian woman.
Sola high court police inspector R H Solanki filed an ‘A summary’ report at a judicial magistrate’s court in Navrangpura stating that no evidence could be found against Modi and another accused, his employee, Johnson Mathew.
An ‘A summary’ report is filed when either the accused or the evidence is unavailable. In this case, the accused made himself available to the investigator 45 days after the registration of an FIR and just a day after the complainant’s petition demanding a CBI probe was registered with the Supreme Court.
“We examined 100 witnesses and also extensively questioned the accused. We did not find any evidence to substantiate the charges levelled by the complainant. Therefore, we have filed an ‘A summary’ report in the court,” said Solanki.
According to the Bulgarian woman’s advocate, Rajeshkumar Mishra, Sola police informed the complainant through an email on the evening of Feb 19 that the investigation pertaining to the charges under Sections 376 (rape), 354 (molestation), 323 (assault), 504 (insulting a person), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code was over. It was a cognizable offence and by this recommended classification, an ‘A summary’ is being filed and sent to the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad Rural.
Advocate Mishra said the hearing on the complainant’s petition for a CBI probe was scheduled in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Police informed her about filing of the summary report a day ahead, on Monday. “This has made our petition infructuous. The police have bought time for themselves because the complainant now has to put up another legal fight challenging the summary report,” the lawyer said.
He also said that it is difficult to fathom how an investigator says there is no evidence even after the complainant’s statement has been recorded before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
The Bulgarian woman, who joined Modi’s company as a flight attendant in 2022, stated in her complaint that she had joined Cadila as a flight attendant and after a few trips with the CMD, she was tipped to work as his personal assistant. She assumed her new role in Feb 2023. She alleged sexual harassment and rape in her complaint, which was mailed to the Ahmedabad police commissioner. The complaint was forwarded to Mahila police station (West), which closed it. She also unsuccessfully tried to file a complaint with Sola police.
When she approached a magisterial court, her application for the registration of an FIR was rejected on the basis of a police report that she was not keen on pursuing her complaint. However, Justice H D Suthar of the high court ordered the registration of an FIR and investigation under the supervision of an IPS officer. The complainant had moved the SC complaining that the probe had been handed over to those cops who had even refused to take cognizance of her complaint.
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