Chandigarh, June 29:
An additional charge of rape has been added in the FIR by Railway Police on
Monday against two officials of Punjab Technical Education Department booked
for abetting in the suicide of their woman colleague.
The victim jumped to
death before a train at a railway track in Lalru on June 23. She had left a
handwritten suicide note at her home, blaming her two seniors identified as
Superintendent Bhupinder Singh and Senior Assistant Arvinder Singh.
The suicide note was
found by the victim’s younger brother, following which the victim’s family met
DGP, GRP, Sanjeev Kalra, at his residence in Naya Gaon on Monday. DGP Sanjeev
Kalra assured that the two accused will be arrested, the police said.
Accused Bhupinder
Singh, 57, was about to retire and Assistant Arvinder Singh, a resident of
Mohali is married and a father of two. The police said that they have recorded
statements of some of the employees of the technical education department.
SHO PS Patiala, GRP,
Gurdarshan Singh, said, “The rape charges in the FIR, which was filed under
Section 306 of IPC, were added to the statement of the victim’s mother.
The handwriting
samples of the victim were sent to a forensic laboratory for matching them with
the handwriting on the note. Continuous raids are being conducted to nab the
suspects."
The family members,
relatives and acquaintances of the victim have been protesting on both the
sides of Ambala-Chandigarh National Highway, seeking justice for the accused.
The victim had been
working in the state Technical Education department for the last five years.
"As we observed
the slow response of the local police, we decided to launch a continuous drive
seeking justice. We are sitting on a dharna at one of the corners of the national
highway," a relative of the victim said.
At least 40 people have been standing here in protest. Police personnel were deployed at the dharna venue but we are insisting that they arrest the culprits instead of standing here like mute spectators," he said