B’luru Police expedite probe, may summon hockey player Varun Kumar in POCSO case

Bengaluru, Feb 8

Karnataka Police expedited the investigation into the POCSO case registered against hockey player Varun Kumar and formed two special teams to look into the case, police said on Thursday. Sources stated that the Investigating Officers will summon Varun Kumar to appear before the Bengaluru Police soon in connection with the case.

Sources said, they are verifying the mobile chats between the accused and the victim, phone recordings and records of hotel bookings in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Police have booked hockey player Varun Kumar under the POCSO Act following a complaint by a 22-year-old airline employee.

Jnanabharthi police in Bengaluru city lodged the FIR against Kumar under the provisions of Section 4 (2), 5 (L), 6 of the POCSO Act and IPC Section 376 (3) for raping a woman under 16 years of age and 420 (cheating).

In the complaint, the victim has stated that the accused had raped her since the age of 16 years on the promise of marriage.

“One year ago, after the demise of my father, the accused came to console me and afterwards stopped calling me and avoided my calls. When I decided to lodge a police complaint, he again started talking to me.

"When I asked him about marriage, the accused said both should remain single. The accused threatened that if I insisted on marriage and troubled him, he would post my photos on social media,” the woman stated in her complaint.

The victim is from Hyderabad and was getting training at the Sports Authority of India Coaching Centre in Jnanabharathi, Bengaluru after being selected as a trainee in volleyball at the age of 16 years. She was staying at the women's hostel at the time.

At that time Varun Kumar was getting training in a national camp in the same campus. She met Varun Kumar via Instagram and he started messaging her.

“Since I was a minor, I did not respond to his messages. The accused sent his friends to me to become close to me but I did not respond. The accused sent frequent messages to me. He cried and maintained that he won’t live without me. After his friends assured me that they would guard me as their sister, I finally agreed to meet him.

“In the meeting the accused put pressure on me to get married to him, I rejected the offer. The accused maintained that he would make my family agree for our marriage and said until then we will stay as friends,” the victim stated in her complaint.

“In ..., he took me for dinner to a hotel in Jayanagar Fourth Block. After dinner he took me forcefully to the room. Even as I told the accused that I was a minor, he forcefully got into a sexual act.

"After believing his promises of marriage for five years, I loved him. He had taken me to various hotels across Bengaluru for years and sexually exploited me,” she alleged in her complaint.