UP ASP booked for raping UPSC aspirant

Lucknow: A UPSC aspirant was allegedly raped repeatedly and forced to abort after she got pregnant by an additional superintendent of police (ASP), according to the police sources here on Sunday.

The ASP, identified as Rahul Shrivastava, who was in-charge of UP police's social media cell, was booked for rape, forced abortion and threat after a case was lodged against him at the Gomti Nagar police station in the city on Saturday.

Police sources said that Shrivastava's wife and four others were also booked for threatening the victim.

The victim, who was a research scholar, said in her complaint that she had come in contact with the ASP in 2018 while she was preparing for UPSC. 

She said that the police official had called her at a hotel to give her notes of the competition where he gave her some drink laced with sedative and raped her and also prepared a video of her there. She alleged that Shrivastava then raped her several times since then threatening to make the videos public.

The victim also said in her complaint that the ASP, who was with the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) but was currently attached with the police headquarters, forced her to abort when she became pregnant last year.

She said that when Shrivastava's wife came to know about the matter then she and some acquaintances of the ASP exerted pressure on her to withdraw her complaint and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not.

The victim also said that she had filed a complaint with the police a few months back but no action was taken in the matter. She later on posted several messages on X (formerly Twitter) about the police's inaction in this regard.

A senior police official said here on Sunday that the matter was being investigated. Shrivastava's wife however refuted the allegations and said that the probe would bring out the truth.