Ahmedabad police finally registered an FIR against Rajiv Modi, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), on charges of rape and criminal intimidation.
An employee of Modi, Jhonson Mathew has also been named in the FIR on the same charges.
The action comes after a recent Gujarat High Court order set aside a magisterial court order that had rejected the complaint of a Bulgarian woman against the two.
Confirming the registration of the FIR at Sola High Court Police Station against Modi and Mathew, Assistant Commissioner of Police HM Kansagara said, “Yes, we have registered an FIR in the case on the basis of the allegations leveled by the woman. An investigation will follow.”
According to the police, the duo has been charged with rape, criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty, and criminal intimidation under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant, who was employed as a flight attendant and a personal assistant of CMD Modi in August 2022, has alleged several instances of sexual harassment between February and March 2023. She also alleged that she was fired in April 2023 after she refused to surrender to CMD Modi’s “illicit demands”.
In July, the woman moved the magisterial court allegedly after Ahmedabad police failed to register an FIR despite her filing a complaint. She alleged rape, criminal assault and criminal intimidation, among others, by the CMD and Matthew in her complaint before the court.
She sought directions from the magistrate’s court for immediate lodging of an FIR and action against police officers for inaction when she approached them first.
In October, however, the chief judicial magistrate court rejected the woman’s plea following which she moved the HC.
On December 22, the HC set aside the magisterial court’s order and ordered investigation in the case under the provisions of Section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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