COURT REJECTS RAPEACCUSED AKALI LEADER’S SURRENDER PLEA

Former Punjab minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sucha Singh Langah, who was booked on the charge of rape, produced himself before a duty magistrate in Chandigarh Courts on Monday.

However, the court rejected his plea to surrender before it and asked him to appear before a court in Gurdaspur.

Langah was booked by police on the night of September 28 following a woman’s complaint alleging that the Akali leader had raped her repeatedly since 2009.

Police have booked Langah under sections 376 (rape), 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The victim had provided a video clip in a pen drive to the police to support her accusations.

Langah had termed the complaint as a “classic example of political vendetta perpetuated at the most political opportune moment when the by-election to the Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency is under way.” The Congress has rubbished the charges of vendetta in the rape case.

In his statement, Langah had said that he would surrender before court on September 30. However, the former minister did not turn up before the court on Saturday. The police had conducted raids at various places in Punjab to arrest him.

Langah, who was a core committee member of the Akali Dal, had earlier also resigned from all party posts and from the membership of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

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