Don't breathe a word about rape, Rustom told staff

The City police have submitted to the court that Rustom Kerawalla, the founder-chairman of Vibgyor High, had instructed his staff through the school superintendent not to reveal anything about the July 2 rape of the six-year-old girl student.

In a report submitted to the court, the police stated that Rustom needed to be interrogated further on his alleged involvement in hushing up the case.

According to the police, school superintendent Basavaraj, who made a statement to the police, said Rustom held a separate meeting with him at the school on July 17.

He reportedly held a meeting with the staff on July 17 about the incident and later met Basavaraj separately.

During this meeting, Rustom asked Basavaraj if he was aware of the incident. Basavaraj told Rustom he was not, until a police complaint was lodged.

At this point, Rustom reportedly told Basavaraj to instruct the school staff not to talk about the incident with anyone.

Threatened to sack

“Rustom had threatened to sack anyone who revealed it to the public or parents. Basavaraj has stated that Rustom was not in Bangalore on July 2 and had come down on July 17,” an officer said.

The CCB police arrested Rustom at Devka Beach in Daman, situated between Gujarat and Maharashtra, on Tuesday night.

The police seized a laptop and two mobile phones from him. A resident of Kerawalla Chambers on Ramchandani Marg in Mumbai, Rustom was at the City Civil Court complex on Thursday to complete his bail formalities.

In their plea before the Fast Track Court-3 Magistrate (since the regular Principal District Judicial Magistrate was on leave) on Wednesday night, the police had sought Rustom’s custody to interrogate him on the allegations about his role in concealing the incident. The police had placed a request for his custody till August 1.

The police stated that they had to verify his emails and call record details about his role in hushing up the case.

The counsel for the accused stated that as chairman of the institution, Rustom had no role to play in the incident.

He also contended that Rustom had been co-operating with the police investigation and will continue to do so.

The court granted him conditional bail on Wednesday night.

Rustom second accused

The police have named Rustom as the second accused in the case (155/2014) and booked him under Sections 202 of IPC (punishment for intentional ommission to give information of offence) and 21 (1) (2) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, punishment for failure to report or record a case of sexual assault on a child.

“Both the sections booked against Rustom are bailable. The investigation will continue on his role in concealing the incident. The verification of the laptop and mobile phones is on,” a senior police officer said.

The police arrested the alleged rapist Mustafa alias Munna, who was working as a skating instructor at the school, on July 20.