E-Paper
Gudha interrogated over rape of two minor girls at his bungalow: Police
Gudha was interrogated by the Jodhpur police in connection with alleged rape of two minor girls by two men at his bungalow last month, officials said
Jaipur: Jodhpur police on Thursday interrogated Rajasthan sacked minister Rajendra Gudha at his bungalow in connection with the alleged rape of two minor girls by two men at the premises last month, officials aware of the matter said.
A team of police personnel arrived at Gudha’s premises at 10.30am and left two hours later, the officials added.
Gudha denied having sufficient knowledge about the purported rapes and took a swipe at his own party’s government, urging them not to “misuse probe agencies against him”. The Congress has often accused the Centre of misusing central agencies against the Opposition.
The developments came a day after Gudha made public three pages of a “red diary”, which, he claims, contains details of corruption and unscrupulous transactions in the Rajasthan Cricket Association, headed by chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav.
According to Jodhpur (rural) superintendent of police (SP) Dharmendra Singh Yadav, two girls, both 17 years of age, who went missing from their homes in Jodhpur’s Pipar city on July 2, were allegedly raped by two men at Gudha’s bungalow in Jaipur.
On July 30, the two men – Ashok Bihnoi (23) and Meghraj (19) – were arrested and booked under sections 376, 363 and 366 of Indian Penal Code and provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
“An investigation into the matter revealed that the incident (rapes) took place inside a room at the bungalow owned by Gudha and which is located near the Trauma Centre Hospital in Jaipur. One of the accused confessed that they took temporary shelter for a night in the bungalow where they raped the minors. Today, police visited his bungalow for an inquiry. A probe is still underway,” Yadav told reporters.
HT reached out to police officials to seek further details on the incident but could not get one immediately.
eacting to the police visit, Gudha said: “I don’t have much idea about the case. I came to know that one of the accused is a Bishnoi and another belongs to the Jatt community. All I can say is that neither do I know the culprits nor the victims. I vacated my bungalow six months ago. Sometimes I only go to visit the place.”
He added: “I will fully cooperate with the police if there is actually any case. The Congress and (party leader) Rahul Gandhi often accuse the central government of misusing government agencies against the Opposition. I also want to urge Gehlot not to misuse the probe agencies against me.”
On July 21, Gudha, was minister of state for Sainik Kalyan (independent charge), home guard and civil defence, panchayati raj and rural development, was sacked by the government for raising questions over the rising crimes against women in the state. He made the remarks a day earlier, as Congress MLAs protested over the ongoing violence and atrocities against women in Manipur, in the Rajasthan assembly.
Four days later, on July 25, Jaipur (rural) police transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department a purported case of encroachment at Dr BL Meel hospital in 2020, in which Gudha’s name allegedly cropped up along with nine others.
According to police officials aware of the details, Gudha’s aides allegedly barged inside the hospital premises and engaged in a brawl with authorities on August 20, 2020. The sacked minister’s personal assistant, Deependra Singh, was arrested on May 8 this year in connection with the case, the officials said.
On Wednesday, as Gudha made public three pages of the “red diary”, he also hit out at the state government for filing “false cases” against him everyday.
“The state government is filing false cases against me every day. I, too, will strategically release bits of information from the red diary at regular intervals. The red diary contains all the proof of corruption done by the Ashok Gehlot government,” he said.
Last week, Gehlot had dismissed the allegations, saying no such “red diary” exists.
The matter has given the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to target the Congress government ahead of the crucial assembly elections later this year.
“It is very clear that the Congress government is reacting because Gudha opened his mouth. The moment he unveiled the red diary, they started taking actions against him,” BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said.
Hitting back, Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi said: “How are these two incidents connected? What did he prove from the pages of that red diary? There was nothing.”
