Woman alleges molestation, Ropar AAP MLA booked

COURTING TROUBLE Woman alleges he assaulted her when she went to enquire about pending rent

RUPNAGAR : Punjab Police on Saturday registered a case against R op ar A am A ad mi Party (AAP) MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa after a woman alleged that he assaulted and molested her.

The victim, the landlady of a house where the legislator earlier lived, told police that the AAP leader assaulted and molested her when she went to his house to claim the remaining rent. Sandoa has rubbished charges.

She came to my house and an altercation broke out with the man accompanying her on some political issue, but I never touched her. It’s a political conspiracy against me. AMARJIT SINGH SANDOA, AAP’s Rupnagar MLA

RUPNAGAR: Police on Saturday booked A am A ad mi Party( A AP) MLA from Rupnagar Amarjit Singh Sandoa for allegedly assaulting and molesting a woman.

A case under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 294 (obscene acts and songs), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the city police station, Rupnagar, against Sandoa on the complaint of the 55-year-old landlady of a house in Giani Zail Singh Nagar where the MLA earlier lived.

The woman alleged that she had given her house on rent of ₹30,000 per month to Sandoa in October last year before the elections. She said Sandoa vacated the house in May and did not pay the rent, electricity and water bills for April. The MLA did not pay for the damage caused to the house,which comesto around ₹3 lakh, she alleged.

The woman claimed that she even approached AAP state unit president Bhagwant Mann and co-president Aman Arora to get her dues paid, but to no avail.

She said that on Friday evening, when she and her relative, Satinder Dhaliwal, went to the MLA’s house, he allegedly abusedher and even pushed her. The woman alleged that she fell down and got bruises on her body. The MLA also caught hold of her hand and dupatta, she alleged.

Thereafter, the MLA threatened to kill her if she ever asked for her money, the complainant alleged.

He also threatened to get her and the person accompanying her arrested in a false case, the woman claimed, adding that Sandoa had also forced the caretaker of her house to sign on a blank paper.

Refuting charges, Sandoa said the woman and a man came to his house on Friday evening when he was in the field.

“When I returned home, they were sitting in the house with his wife and children. I told them that the pending bills would be paid soon. But the man started talking about politics and an altercation broke out between him and me. Them an threatened me and said he would get a case registered against me. I never touched the woman,” said Sandoa, adding that it was a political conspiracy against him.

MLA said that he had launched a crusade against corruption and raising the voice against injustice in the district, which has not gone down well with the Congress government and the administration.

Rupnagar senior superin- tendent of police (SSP) Raj Bachan Singh Sandhu said a fair investigation would be done in the case.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spokesman and former Punjab education minister Daljit Singh Cheema condemned the incident and demanded Sandoa’s arrest. He also urged the Punjab assembly speaker to take action against the M LA. He said the SAD would launch an agitation if Sandoa was not arrested.

Sandoa, a political greenhorn who used to be a taxi driver in Delhi, made headlines in March when he defeated Cheema from the Rupnagar assembly segment.

Cheema finished third in the contest, behind the Congress candidate. Sandoa now runs a transport company in Delhi.

The AAP has 20 legislators in the 117-member assembly and is the main opposition party in Punjab.