Sacked AAP minister sent to 3 days police custody

Kumar, 36, was produced before Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry on expiry of one day police custody. 

In a fresh turn of events, Delhi Police on Monday detained sacked Delhi minister’s personal assistant after the AAP leader alleged that he was “blackmailing” him and “threatening to destroy his public image”. Praveen Kumar, who is Kumar’s PA, was detained from Delhi Secretariat on Monday morning, police said. “As of now, we have detained him for questioning from Delhi Secretariat,” said DCP(Outer) Vikramjeet Singh.

The former minister was arrested on September 3 after a woman approached Sultanpuri police station in north Delhi with a complaint of sexual harassment against the former social welfare and women and child development minister following which a case was filed. The woman had figured in an objectionable video with him.

He has been booked under Sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence) of IPC, under Section 67A of IT Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration for an official act).

In her complaint, the woman alleged that around 11 months ago she was raped by Kumar when she had gone to his office in Outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri seeking help to obtain a ration card. She has alleged that Kumar had offered her a spiked drink and when she fell unconscious, she was taken to his house adjacent to the office and raped.

The woman alleged that Kumar had told her that he will get a ration card for her and ensure jobs for her children. Kumar was removed from the AAP government on August 31 by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after the CD purportedly showing him in a compromising position with the woman surfaced.

The MLA from Sultanpur Majra had surrendered before the investigators at the office of DCP (Outer) in Pitampura where his statement was recorded, police officials had said. Soon after the controversy, the MLA had defended himself, saying he has been targeted. Kumar’s wife has also come out in support of her husband, claiming that he was “falsely implicated” in the scandal. 

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has summoned AAP spokesperson Ashutosh for his controversial blog in which he had defended Sandeep Kumar over an “objectionable” CD, saying it was a “consensual” act and that he had done no wrong.