Vadodara: Polcie constable Minesh Bhunekar, accused of raping a woman arrested in connection with a murder case at Santrampur police station is now on the run.The policeman was earlier cooperating with the investigations, but has been missing since around three weeks now.The disappearance is a major embarrassment for the police it had avoided arresting the policeman till enough evidence was gathered against him. The cop initially showed no intentions of running away, but with him remaining incommunicado for several days now he is believed to have absconded.Sources said that the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the police for probing the incident had recently moved an application in the Santrampur court seeking permission to conduct a lie detector test and other scientific investigations. Bhunekar was also summoned to the court in this regard on Tuesday, but did not turn up.When asked about the accused cop having gone missing, deputy superintendent of police V M Chauhan who is the investigating officer for the case said that the accused could not be served the summons by the court and was not available at his residence. He said that in wake of the situation, a warrant under section 70 of the Criminal Procedure Code had been obtained against him.Chauhan said that if Bhunekar did not turn up even after the warrant, procedure to attach his assets could also be taken up. He added that the accused’s assets were being identified now.The woman who was arrested in connection with the murder of a youth in Santrampur on May 28 had been kept at the Santrampur police station for interrogation. She alleged that a constable Minesh Bhunekar had tortured her along with two others initially and then raped her after two days. The constable is posted with the local crime branch that was probing the murder case.The woman had initially made representations regarding the alleged rape on the side lines of an event at the Santrampur prison to mark the International Prisoners’ Justice Day on August 10. After this, senior officials had swung into action and an offence was registered late in the nightApart from a series of medical tests on the survivor, the police gathered the details of various occasions after her arrest when the woman was either presented before a court or taken to doctors for treatment.

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