Gujarat police register rape case against Cadila Pharma CMD after HC order

‘We have registered an offence against CMD of Cadila Pharma Rajiv Modi and one more person identified as Johnson Matthew on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim,’ said Assistant Commissioner of Police HM Kansagra.

Ahmedabad: Police have acted on a high court directive and registered a case against the chairman and managing director of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Rajiv Modi, for the alleged rape, assault and intentional insult on a complaint by a Bulgarian woman, who had joined the company as a flight attendant, an official said on Sunday.

The police have said that they can only investigate the matter and submit a report to the high court for now.

The CMD of the Ahmedabad-based pharma company was booked on Sunday under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) HM Kansagra said here.

The case was registered against the company’s CMD and one of his company employees at the Sola police station of the city after the Gujarat High Court in its order on December 22 directed the police to do the same, Kansagra said.

“Following the direction of the honourable Gujarat High Court, we have registered an offence against CMD of Cadila Pharma Rajiv Modi and one more person identified as Johnson Matthew on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim,” the police official said.

The court had directed police investigation into the matter under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) following which an FIR (first information report) was registered, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Lavina Sinha said.

“An FIR was registered on the basis of an inquiry registered under section 156 (3) of CrPC on the direction of the court. We will carry out an investigation and submit a report to the court. We cannot take action on it, we can only investigate and report back to the court,” she said.

In its order dated December 22, the HC had directed the chief judicial magistrate to pass an order of investigation by a competent police official into the complaint.

The investigation should be carried out under the supervision of a senior IPS officer nominated by the Deputy Inspector General (Law and Order) and completed within two months, the high court had said in its order.

The Bulgarian woman had approached the HC for directions for the registration of an FIR against Rajiv Modi on charges of rape, assault, criminal intimidation and human trafficking, among others, and action against police officials for not registering a case on her complaint.

In her plea before the court, she said that despite approaching the police with a complaint, they failed to initiate an investigation and register an FIR. When she approached a magistrate court with a private complaint against the accused persons, it dismissed the same, she said.

The complainant said in her plea that she came to India on November 24, 2022, for a job as a flight attendant and joined the pharma firm. Her job profile was changed and she was made a butler-personal attendant and appointed to travel and remain with the CMD of the firm.

During the course of her job, she was subjected to sexual harassment, and when she did not surrender to the “illicit demands” of the accused, she was removed from her job on April 3, 2023, she alleged.

The petitioner wrote to the Bulgarian embassy and Foreign Regional Registration Offices in this regard. She alleged that she was pressured to withdraw her complaint and forced to file an affidavit in Mahila police station stating that she had settled the dispute with her employer against which she received a demand draft of Rs 24 lakh from the employer.

She then addressed a second complaint to the police commissioner, and filed a private complaint before the magistrate court which passed an order dismissing the complaint.

The high court observed that the magistrate was duty-bound to send the complaint for police investigation under Section 156(3) of the CrPC as the offences were cognisable.