Former Delhi Cabinet minister Sandeep Kumar was sacked from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday. He was also then formally arrested by the police after the woman in the sex CD that is in the midst of the row alleged that she was raped. He had initially surrendered to the cops.
The development comes just a few days after the CD -- purportedly showing Kumar in a compromising position with the woman in both a video and several pictures -- surfaced. He had been removed from the ministerial post by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal immediately after the CD and its contents had been brought to his notice.
Kumar, meanwhile, has said he has nothing to do with either the CD or the woman seen in it, claiming that he was not even in the video or the images. He had also said he was being targeted because of his caste.
The AAP is no stranger to controversies. When it came to power, it had promised transparency and clean politics. However, its tenure has been anything but that. Various top leaders of the party have had a brush with the law because of their involvement in illicit relations with or violence against women. There have been at least five such instances.
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In Kumar's case, the woman in the CD lodged a police complaint against him on Saturday, saying she was raped by the former minister. She said she had approached Kumar for help in obtaining a ration card. However, he had given her a drink laced with drugs or sedatives, and had then taken advantage of her. She also said she did not know any video of the incident was recorded.
On receiving her complaint, the police registered a case of rape under Section 376 of the IPC against Kumar, and formally arrested him on Saturday evening. He had earlier surrendered to them. It may be noted that the woman had also said the incident happened after Kumar had become the minister.
