Complainant, his family untraceable, probe stuck
Police and SIT have contacted over 20 relatives of the complainant in an effort to trace him
CHANDIGARH : A week after Punjab Police constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to look into the allegations of sexual misconduct against food and civil supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, the probe team has failed to make any headway as the complainant in the case is still untraceable.
The SIT, headed by deputy inspector general (DIG border range, Amritsar) Narinder Bhargav, it is learnt tried to contact all the relatives of the complainant and the complainant’s house is said to be locked ever since he appeared in a video, levelling allegations against the minister.
The SIT, with Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dayama Harish Kumar and Pathankot SSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh as its members, was formed after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) issued a notice to the Punjab government seeking an action-taken report after receiving a complaint following an alleged objectionable video of Kataruchak. The NCSC had also directed the Punjab Government to provide security to the complainant. Following this, four gunmen were attached by the SIT for security.
“As he (complainant) and his entire family are untraceable since his video emerged, we have informed his relatives about the security and have kept the gunmen at the local police station falling in Pathankot district. More than 20 relatives of the complainant have also been given the phone numbers of the SIT members and the other local police officials with a request that the complainant was free to contact anyone,” said an SIT member on the condition of anonymity.
The above-quoted SIT member further said that the probe has found that the age of the complainant is 30 years at present and contrary to the allegations, the complainant was not a minor at the time of the incident as alleged in the video.
“We are not jumping to any conclusion yet, but his age has come out to be 30 years. The complainant is 1993 born. So as per allegations, he was not a minor in 2013 when, as per the complainant, he came in touch with the accused,” the SIT member added. The matter came to light on May 1 when Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira handed over the ‘objectionable video’ of the minister to governor Banwarilal Purohit for forensic verification. In the video, the complainant also accused the minister of issuing threats to him and his family.
The governor sent the video to the Chandigarh director general of police to check its authenticity, and on May 4, the governor forwarded the forensic report of the video to chief minister Bhagwant Mann.
Following this, the complainant reached NCSC, and the commission issued a notice to the Punjab Government. On May 7, Punjab chief secretary VK Janjua informed the commission that the home department has been asked to look into the complaint. A detailed report would be sent within 15 days, the chief secretary said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the minister termed the controversy as an attempt at his character assassination. The minister, was addressing a gathering in his constituency.
The complainant is 1993 born. So as per the allegations, he was not a minor in 2013 when he allegedly came in contact with the accused. SIT MEMBER