Two Nepalese women who were allegedly confined and raped by a Saudi diplomat and his “guests” in a flat in Gurgaon on Wednesday said their tormentors had threatened to kill them even as the Saudi embassy protested the police “intrusion” into the diplomat’s house.
Recounting their ordeal, the women said though they were brought for “handling domestic chores... but he did horrific things with us” and alleged that they were shown “knives and threatened to kill us”.
Reacting to allegations, Saudi embassy issued a statement terming them as “false” and said it has protested the police intrusion into a diplomat’s house against “all diplomatic conventions.”
They also brought to the notice of the concerned officials in the ministry of external affairs the “unwarranted media briefings before investigations are complete”, it said.
Saudi Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Alsati along with some embassy officials also met senior officials to register their protest with the external affairs ministry, which told them that a detailed report was awaited from the Gurgaon police in the matter.
On future course of action, spokesperson in the MEA Vikas Swarup said further steps will be taken once the ministry receives a detailed report from the local police.
According to sources, if a prima facie case is made out in the police report, the ministry would approach the Saudi Arabia embassy and ask it to cooperate in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk, who is heading a special investigation team in the case, said the probe into the allegations would be undertaken in accordance with the Vienna convention as the official enjoys diplomatic immunity.
“We have been able to establish the identity (of the diplomat who has been accused of rape) and we have also been able to establish that the residents of that flat enjoy diplomatic immunity,” he said at a press conference in Gurgaon.
He said an FIR has been registered against unknown residents of the concerned apartment, which was raided on Monday might, and does not name any person.
“In their statements, both to the police and the judicial magistrate, the victims did not name the alleged perpetrators. And the law doesn’t allow the police to incorporate names into an FIR on its own,” said Virk.
Constantly stressing that the registration of an FIR does not mean that offence has been proved, he said the police is in touch with the MEA, which has sought a detailed report on the case which would be submitted shortly but maintained police had given the requisite “information” to the ministry without any loss of time.
According to police sources, the victims are expected to fly back to Nepal on Thursday.
