Cops sit on case of DIG molesting 17-year-old

DIG (Motor Transport, Pune) Nishikant More

The father of a 17-year-old molestation survivor has been forced to run from pillar to post since July this year, trying to register a case against the alleged accused - a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Maharashtra Police.

The incident is from June 5 this year, when the teenager celebrated her 17th birthday and the officer in question is DIG (Motor Transport, Pune) Nishikant More. The father has a video of the incident which took place during his daughter's birthday party at their residence. Despite having approached the Director General of Police (DGP), Maharashtra and the Commissioner of Police (CP), Navi Mumbai in July, the only response the father has got is "enquiry is on."

According to the 45-year-old father, he and More became friends in 2016 when the latter was a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) attached with Navi Mumbai police. "More called me saying we should celebrate my daughter's birthday at our place in Taloja. We agreed to meet at 9 pm. More, who came with his wife and son, started having alcohol soon after reaching.

"After cutting the cake, each one of us was feeding a piece of it to my daughter. Both, my and More's wife were shooting videos on their mobiles. My son smeared cake on her entire face, and More, standing right next to my daughter, scooped it up with his finger and licked it. He repeated this several times. It did not stop there - a piece of cake fell on her breast, he collected that too and ate it. My family was shocked; my daughter could not grasp what just happened," he said.

More's wife angrily remarked, "Arre pura chaat lo na phir." mid-day has copies of both videos.

"I too asked him what he was doing, but he said, 'arre kuch nahin'," the father explained. More's wife later sent the video from her mobile to the father. "She supported us in the beginning. But when she realised that we intend to file a case, the family started threatening us," he said. More's wife allegedly took the teenager to her place from June 15 to 22 and warned her that her parents would be jailed if they were to file a case.

Survivor depressed

"My daughter has been suffering from depression ever since. She doesn't eat well and was hospitalised twice. She told me that More touched and kissed her in the past too but she was too scared to tell anyone," the father said.

The survivor's family was initially hesitant about filing a case as they were anxious about the repercussions.

"More is a powerful person. In addition, we bought a plot on Goa highway in partnership, with his and my wife listed as owners. We split the R15 lakh cost in half. We built a bungalow for which I paid R15 lakh while he paid Rs 4 lakh as he had promised to get my 23-year-old son a job. I let everything go but could not tolerate my daughter being treated like this. I ceased all communication with him," the father said.

The father claims that a fake case was filed by More against him and his wife at Kharghar police station in August. "Just because he is an officer, the FIR was filed immediately. While here I am with video evidence of my daughter's molestation, and nobody is ready to listen to me. Since July, they are only enquiring about it," the father said.

The father first submitted a written complaint to DGP Maharashtra on July 12 and then to CP Navi Mumbai on July 18. Ashok Dudhe, DCP Zone 2, Navi Mumbai who has been tasked with the probe, told mid-day, "The enquiry is under process."

When contacted, DIG More said, "Did you see that video? Did you find anything wrong in that? I didn't see anything wrong. He was like my family. A complainant can make any type of allegations, they don't have any limits. Let them do what they want to. I am not going to give any explanation in this matter."

Brother warned

On Friday morning, when the victim's 23-year-old brother was on his way home from the gym, he was accosted by two unknown men riding on a motorbike.

"The duo told me that we have messed with the wrong person, to withdraw all cases against the DIG and fled. The spot was an isolated one. They had already been waiting for me," the survivor's brother said. The Taloja police have registered a non-cognisible complaint against unknown people.

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