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Absconding in rape case, turncoat councillor re-inducted in Congress by Patti MLA
A woman relative had accused the Congress councillor, who recently joined Shiromani Akali Dal, of raping her since May 2020 and of even thrashing her for opposing his advances
A councillor in the Patti municipal council, who has been absconding in a rape case for nearly two weeks and had joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) earlier, was re-inducted into the Congress by party’s local MLA Harminder Singh Gill.
A case was registered on September 24 against Ashwani Kumar, councillor from Patti’s ward 17, for allegedly raping a woman relative, a day after he joined the SAD in the presence of former minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon.
Kumar was absconding since.
MLA Gill even posted a picture of him with the accused on his Facebook page. “Patti’s ward 17 councillor Ashwani Kumar has been re-inducted into the Congress. A few days ago, some people got him honoured by Adesh Partap Singh Kairon,” the photo caption read.
Gill, however, didn’t respond to repeated calls.
The woman had told the police in her complaint that Kumar was raping her since May 2020 and would even thrash her for opposing his advances. “Then, he drove me and my one-year-old daughter out of my husband’s house. I had told my husband everything but he didn’t react,” she had alleged.
Talking to HT over phone, the victim’s uncle said, “She has been living in her maternal house for the last six months. Kumar was not allowing her to live with her husband. The police should arrest him immediately.”
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kuljit Singh said, “The accused is absconding. He has not got any pre-arrest bail from any court. Our teams are working to nab him.”
The opposition has termed the incident as a ‘mockery of the law’, claiming that it was the police who brought the accused to the MLA for his rejoining.
Kairon’s political adviser Gurmukh Singh Ghulla said, “First, Ashwani was booked at the instance of the MLA because he joined SAD. He was nabbed by the local police who instead of lodging him in jail produced before the MLA who made him re-join the state’s ruling party. The MLA is using police and civil administration to meet his petty political ends. He is also threatening our other party workers to join the Congress.”
Earlier, ward 12 councillor Surjit Singh was re-inducted into the Congress by the MLA. Surjit had also joined the SAD in the presence of Kairon earlier.
