NRI Rajat Sharda, police officer found guilty of rape

Washington, June 8, 2015:

The jury of  twelve people found NRI Rajat Sharda, 33, guilty of rape, open and gross lewdness, larceny under $250 and intimidation of a witness. Sharda was placed into custody, bail revoked and handcuffed.

Peter Ettenberg, Sharda's lawyer said in his closing statements, " The prosecution did not have any evidence to convict his client."

"Rajat Sharda was on patrol and in full  police uniform, when he found a man and woman having sex in a parked vehicle at Bancroft Tower in the morning hours of Aug. 6, 2013,"  authorities said. " Sharda handcuffed the man in the car and told her to walk over his police cruiser, where he inappropriately touched the naked woman,  masturbated front of her, and ejaculated onto a blanket she was using to try to cover herself." The blanket was never recovered.

Last year,  Mr. Sharda was released on $7,540 cash bail. Sharda was placed on restricted duty when the complaint was brought to the Worcester Police Department and an investigation was immediately launched.  As a result of the arrest, Mr. Sharda had been placed on paid administrative leave per Massachusetts General Law.

Mr. Sharda was hired on September 8, 2008 but was laid off on February 28, 2009. He was reinstated on December 25, 2011.

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Indian-American police man faces trial for sexual assault

Washington, June 3 (IANS) A court in the US state of Massachusetts has started trial of a police officer of Indian descent, who was charged with sexual assault in 2014.

 Rajat Sharda, 33, while on duty, allegedly sexually assaulted a 29-year-old Connecticut woman in August 2013, threatening her not to report the incident, which was reported in February 2014, stated The Telegram on Wednesday.
 The woman testified in court that on August 6, 2013, night she was inside a parked sports utility vehicle (SUV), undressed, with her boyfriend Michael Betancourt when officer Sharda approached the vehicle and asked her to step outside the SUV.
 "He was asking me what I'd be willing to do to not be arrested," she stated in court.
 After handcuffing Betancourt, Sharda sexually assaulted and threatened the woman, before leaving from the location.
 The first police officer of Indian descent on the Worchester, Massachusetts's police force, Sharda was removed from service in September 2014 and was charged with sexual assault, open and gross lewdness, witness intimidation and larceny.

NRI Rajat Sharda, police officer found guilty of rape

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