IAF officer arrested for raping colleague in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: An all-woman police team on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old Flight Lieutenant on the charge of raping a colleague on the Air Force Administrative College campus in Coimbatore two weeks ago.

Police identified the accused as Amitesh Harmukh of Durg, Chhattisgarh, who was in the city to take part in an induction programme.

Though the woman informed a senior IAF officer about the incident, no action was taken against Amitesh. Dissatisfied with the departmental inquiry, she approached the city police. “We received a complaint from her a few days ago. We registered an FIR against the officer and arrested him,” Coimbatore police commissioner Deepak M Damor said.

Amitesh lodged in Udumalpet jail

The central all-woman police inspector, E Nirmala, arrested Amitesh on Saturday evening. He was booked under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC, remanded in judicial custody, and lodged in the Udumalpet sub-jail on Sunday.

“IAF authorities requested us not to lodge him in jail. We asked them to approach the court as the matter is sub judice,” a police officer told TOI. He was among the 30 officers who reached the Air Force Administrative College on August 15 to attend an induction programme.