Representative image of sexual assault
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Hours after a case of alleged rape was reported by a student at IIM-Calcutta, the survivor's father denied sexual assault allegations made by her daughter. But the woman, in her written complaint, had accused Parmanand Toppaunwar, a man from Karnataka, of assaulting her on the Joka campus. The accused has been taken into police custody after a case was registered against him.
The woman identified herself as a psychologist and the man as a client who approached her for "help".
She recalled that Toppaunwar invited her to the campus on Friday and raped her.
In her complaint, she wrote, “He sexually assaulted me. I found myself on his bed when I regained my senses.”
Earlier reports stated that the woman was lured with a pizza and drugged.
However, less than 12 hours later, the victim's father dismissed the allegations, stating that his daughter had “fallen off an autorickshaw” and there was no assault.
He also suggested that the police might have coerced his daughter into making false statements.
"My daughter had called me and said she had fallen off an autorickshaw," the father told the media.
"Cops said she was abused and arrested someone, but my daughter said nothing happened," he added in his statement.
The truth remains unclear, but conflicting statements have raised questions about possible police coercion or whether the father is covering up to protect his daughter’s reputation.
Since the father's contradicting claims, the police has reported that they haven't heard back from the family or the daughter.
"They keep saying she is asleep," one senior officer told the Times of India.