Indian national fears fabricated rape case against him

MANILA, Philippines – A rape complaint filed by a 28-year-old woman in Cavite against several Indian nationals is under reinvestigation, after respondents pointed out questionable facts in the case which, they said, “defied human logic.”

One of the accused is Manjinder “James” Kumar, president of the Khalsa Diwan Indian Sikh Temple in Manila. Kumar believes that the case is linked to his work helping some of his community members fight back against a kidnap-for-ransom syndicate composed of fellow Indian nationals.

But Kumar is questioning not just the victim’s allegations, but how the case was able to prosper given what he believes were peculiarities of the case: a medico-legal report that did not support accusations of sexual assault; non-existent addresses where notices were supposedly sent; and the victim’s own narration of events, which his camp claims “defied human logic.”

Abduction, rape

In the complaint, a certain Rechel Estorgio claimed she was forced into a van in January 2016 by Kumar, his mother, and several others under the pretext of offering her a job.

When Estorgio boarded the van, she was surprised to see 6 men inside. She tried to resist, but was blindfolded and told in broken Filipino, “Huwag ka na laban, wala ka rin gawa (Don’t resist, you can’t do anything).”

After she appealed to be released, one of the men told her, again in broken Filipino, “Pakawalan ikaw ‘pag sawa na Manjinder Kumar (You’ll be released once Manjinder Kumar is done with you).”

In her complaint, Estorgio claimed that she was later led into a room and raped by 3 men, including Kumar.

A resolution from the city prosecutor’s office dated August 16, 2016, and signed by associate city prosecutor Michael Philip Silvala and city prosecutor Johnny Umpong approved the filing of the case in court.

According to the prosecutor, the respondents – Kumar, his mother, Bhupinder Singh, Mandep Kumar, Paramjit Singh, and Jujhar Singh – had been subpoenaed at their last known addresses, but had failed to appear and submit evidence.

Two months later, Judge Matias Garcia II of the Bacoor Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 issued a warrant of arrest against the respondents. Kumar’s mother, Balbir Kaur, was arrested in November 2016, as she was leaving the Indian Sikh temple in Manila.

It was only then that Kumar’s camp learned of the complaint, prompting them to file an urgent omnibus motion for reinvestigation and the lifting of the warrant of arrest.

Questionable circumstances

In their motion, and in various motions filed in later months, Kumar’s camp questioned the facts of the case, and stressed that these details should not have merited the issuance of a warrant of arrest.

They said they were unable to address the allegations early on because they did not receive any notice about the complaint and the preliminary investigation. Kumar’s camp produced certifications that the addresses supplied by Estorgio did not exist.

“It is therefore peculiar how the investigating prosecutor was able to have allegedly caused the service of subpoena when the indicated address is not only incorrect but is also inexistent,” their motion read.

Kumar’s camp also pointed out that the medico-legal examination conducted on Estorgio just days after the alleged rape showed that there were “non-specific gynecologic findings at the time of examination but does not rule out sexual assault.” An annotation also read, “No lacerations noted.”

It was also questionable how Estorgio was able to remember the full Indian names of her alleged abductors, Kumar’s camp pointed out.

“It is even less likely that the accused in this case called each other by their full names as they were purportedly committing the crime charged against them,” Kumar’s camp said.

In December 2016, the RTC granted Kumar camp’s request for a reinvestigation of the case, but denied the request to lift the warrant of arrest. The judge amended this order on January 27, 2017, to include lifting the warrant.

Citing portions of the victim’s own narration, the court said that Estorgio’s readily agreeing to board the van was “rather against human conduct and behavior.”

The court also took note of the medico-legal certificate that contradicted the victim’s accusations.

“If indeed complainant was repeatedly raped, a penetrative abuse and/or some injuries would have been noticed in the vaginal area and/or in the vagina, but it appears from the certificate that no injuries were noted,” the court said.

Target of syndicates?

Kumar believes that a syndicate targeting Indians may be behind the rape complaint. Kumar said that in late August, he had received several text messages from an unknown number, threatening him that his days were numbered if he did not withdraw the cases he had filed against them.

“May warrant of arrest ka na, kaya itumba ka namin nang legal (You already have a warrant of arrest, so we can have you killed legally),” one of the messages read. At that point, however, the warrant stemming from the rape complaint had not yet been issued.

Kumar said he believes that the case the unidentified individual was referring to may have been the 2015 kidnapping-for-ransom complaint filed by Jujhar Singh, one of his co-accused in the rape complaint. Singh was abducted in Makati City by several Indian nationals, who demanded a P20-million ransom for his release. He was later rescued in a house in Cabuyao, Laguna.

But while Kumar claims that he is the target of an Indian syndicate involved in kidnap-for-ransom operations, a fellow Indian national is disputing that claim.

Gurdanshan “Geedee” Singh, tagged by Kumar as a suspect in his attempted kidnapping and murder in 2010, pointed to Kumar as the real head of the kidnapping syndicate.

Geedee Singh said Kumar, along with policemen in Caloocan, Pasay, and Taguig, fabricated cases against Indian nationals to force them to pay their dues to Kumar. Kumar has denied these accusations.

Crime in the Indian community is reminiscent of recently reported crime among Koreans in Pampanga. Police there said crimes where Koreans are involved are mostly crimes they commit against each other. – Rappler.com