Bengal cricketer Abhishek Porel arrested on ‘rape’ charges
A young medical student from Karnataka had lodged a complaint against Porel on June 23, alleging that the two had been in a relationship for around three-and-a-half years and had planned to get married
Bengal cricketer Abhishek Porel, who has played for Delhi Capitals in IPL, was arrested by police in the Hooghly district following a complaint by a medical student alleging that he had sexual relations with her on the promise of marriage, an official said on Tuesday.
“There was a case lodged against him and a court order to arrest him. He was arrested late last night. He will be produced in court today,” Hooghly (Rural) SP Kunwar Bhushan Singh said.
Porel was arrested by the Mogra police late Monday night and is likely to be produced before a court in Chinsurah later on Tuesday.
The arrest came after the Calcutta High Court, on July 20, directed police to arrest the cricketer in connection with the case. The court also ordered the seizure of his electronic devices to prevent the dissemination of photographs of the complainant.
Police have registered a case against Porel under Section 69 of the BNS, besides Sections 311 and 318 and other provisions of the BNS, as well as Sections 66 and 72 of the Information Technology Act, police sources said.
A young medical student from Karnataka had lodged a complaint against Porel at the Mogra police station on June 23, alleging that the two had been in a relationship for around three-and-a-half years and had planned to get married.
The woman also alleged that the two had travelled abroad together but that Porel later denied their relationship, following which she approached the police.
According to the complaint, the two had a dispute around a year-and-a-half ago which had escalated to the police station, but no complaint was filed at that time.
Following the June complaint, police launched an investigation and teams visited Porel’s residence in Chandannagar several times but could not find him there.
The woman subsequently approached the Calcutta High Court, following which the court directed the police to arrest Porel on July 20. The court proceedings also involved allegations of criminal intimidation and other offences, besides the rape allegation.
Porel had earlier denied the allegations.
Reactions from Porel and his family on his arrest were awaited.
