Hotel rape or honeytrap: Cops puzzled

Mystery shrouds the rape case registered by a 36-year-old woman against a 26-year-old duty manager of a hotel on Richmond Road on Sunday. A day after the complaint was lodged, the police are verifying the background of the woman whom they suspect had trapped the suspect Manish Kumar Singh.

Police investigation revealed that the woman checked into the hotel around 8.30 pm and was offered room No. 401 on the fourth floor. Hotel authorities told DH that Manish was offered a job recently and was about to report for duty on August 13 according to his offer letter. However, he showed up two days in advance requesting the hotel staff to arrange for accommodation. For his temporary stay, the hotel had given him room No. 217. “Going by our administration, Manish technically was not an employee on the company rolls when the incident happened, however, we have sent him an offer rejection letter,” said the hotel’s general manager. Manish is a native of Bihar and was earlier working for a resort off Tumakuru Road.

In her complaint to the police, the woman stated that Manish had called her to his room and committed the offence. However, police investigation shows that it was the woman who made more calls to Manish than he did and it was she who went to his room.

The hotel staff said the CCTV footage showed the woman going into Manish’s room around 10.27 pm and coming out at 10.37 pm after which she informed the hotel management that she was sexually assaulted and that they need to strike a compromise. She even asked the hotel authorities to give Rs 1 lakh as she did not want to pursue the case, said police sources. However, after they began questioning Manish, the woman called up the police and reported that she was sexually assaulted. Even after the police arrived and arrested Manish, the woman insisted with the police that she speak to Manish in private for five minutes. The police refused and took a complaint from her. She was then subjected to a medical examination which confirmed sexual intercourse. Manish insisted to the police that it was consensual.