A hotel owner who introduced the 21-year-old woman to then Labour Commissioner R L Rishi was arrested in Karnal, Haryana, on Sunday and taken into police custody in Port Blair on Monday. Sandeep Singh alias Rinku had spoken to the woman before she was called to the official residence of the then Chief Secretary Jitendra Narain who allegedly raped her, reported The Indian Express.

An audio clip of a two-minute conference call recorded by the woman with Rinku and Rishi, the then Labour Commissioner, reveals that she was purportedly instructed by Rinku to never name Narain and to keep the conversations “confidential”. He also instructed her to never take names as “phones are being tapped”.

“Woh desh ka bada aadmi hai…woh khaas hi ladki dekhta hai (“He is one of the country’s high and mighty…and he looks for only special girls),” Rinku told her, in the purported call.

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“Tum confidential hai… naam phone par kabhi mat lena…phone tap bhi hote hain (you are confidential…never take his name on the telephone, phones can be tapped),” she was allegedly told just before her visit where Narain and Rishi had allegedly sexually assaulted her.

The audio clip was a key part of the evidence that was handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is being set up to probe the case.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the woman had said that Rinku her “picked” her and introduced her to Rishi, who had accompanied her to the Chief Secretary’s house. She said she had met Rinku outside his hotel Desi Lounge in Port Blair where she had taken some domestic tourists for dinner. She was their local guide.

Later, he asked her why she was doing “small jobs” and that he could arrange something “permanent”
for her soon. He then took her to meet Labour Commissioner Rishi at his office.

A month later, after the telephone call (that was recorded by her), she was taken to the chief secretary’s residence at VIP Road in Port Blair.

While Narain was arrested by Andaman and Nicobar police last week, the ex-labour commissioner is yet to be arrested.

In October, the woman accused Narain and R L Rishi of sexual assault and gang-rape at the chief secretary’s official residence. She had alleged that she was lured to the chief secretary’s house with the promise of a government job and then raped on April 14 and May 1.

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Delhi Police officials said it was the interception of telephones of persons who were in touch with the hotelier, and cash withdrawals that led to Rinku’s arrest. The Southern Range of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police said that they searched over 100 hotels and guest houses in Haridwar and Rishikesh, as per IE’s report.

Delhi police said that after fleeing from Port Blair, he was hiding in Delhi, Kolkata and Dhariwal, and was arrested while he was trying to escape in a cab from Haryana’s Karnal to Bhubaneshwar in Odisha.