In her FIR, the 27-year-old complainant has leveled extremely serious allegations against Rajiv Modi, the 63-year-old chairman and managing director of Cadila Pharmaceuticals. The FIR was registered by Sola police station in the Ahmedabad district on December 31, 2023, following an order of the Gujarat High Court, which was moved by the victim.
The police had earlier refused to register her FIR, following which she moved the court of a chief metropolitan magistrate, which rejected her application. She then appealed to the high court, which came down heavily on the lower court and ordered the registration of the FIR.
The Free Press Journal (FPJ) tried to contact the company via email but received no response at the time of publishing. However, while defending Modi before the high court, his lawyers had claimed that the allegations of rape, etc., were baseless. The FIR (No. 11191045231099 of December 31, 2023) has been registered under IPC sections 376 (punishment for rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (criminal force with the intent of outraging modesty), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Complaint reveals graphic details of alleged sexual assault
According to the complaint, in August 2022, an employee of Cadila, Johnson Mathew, approached the victim through Job Solutions, a placement company, and offered her the job of a flight attendant to work on Cadila's Gulf Stream 550 business jet and also as his personal assistant. She joined Cadila at their Charodi office in November 2022. She was given accommodation adjacent to the Charodi house of Modi.
On February 22, 2023, she accompanied him to Udaipur when the accused allegedly passed "sexual comments that I was too tight and shy." On a flight from Jammu in the private jet on February 23, the accused went up to her and closed the flight door, confining her for about two hours. She then recounts a series of incidents when she was ill-treated. On February 26, 2023, the accused asked for water, and when she brought it in a tray, he allegedly touched her buttocks. When she protested, she was told that she "should get used to it."
Modi allegedly kissed victim against her wish
On February 27, the accused came up to her, "raised the skirt forcefully and asked what colour her panties were today." The victim has alleged that Modi hugged and kissed her against her wishes, put his arms under her shirt, and "touched her breasts." On another occasion, when the victim was looking through the window, Modi allegedly grabbed her and tried to squeeze his fingers into her underpants and fingered. "When the complainant went to the bathroom, he came behind and grabbed her forcefully. He tried again to squeeze his fingers into her underpants with more onset. The complainant was shocked and scared by the unexpected onslaught; he had already stuck his fingers inside her vagina," according to the victim's statement.
She approached several authorities with her complaint, but in vain. Finally, Justice Hashmukh D. Suthar of the Gujarat High Court gave a patient hearing to all the parties concerned and ordered the registration of the FIR. Among other things, the HC cited the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari versus the State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. A division bench of the apex court had in November 2013 stated that an FIR must mandatorily be registered when a cognizable offence is made out.
