Former Rajasthan minister Babulal Nagar, who has been accused in a rape case, has reportedly admitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that he had been in a sexual relationship with the victim for more than three years.
The suspended Congress leader was arrested by the CBI on Friday, after 38 days since a woman had filed a complaint against Nagar for sexual assaulting her.
During the interrogation, Nagar confessed of having sexual relations with the 35-year-old woman for more than three and half years. He reportedly insisted that the woman had given her consent for a sexual intercourse despite Nagar being married to his wife.
According to reports, CBI investigators have evidence against the suspended Congress leader. Nagar's phone logs show him calling the rape victim and asking her to come to his home. The victim's gold chain was found on Nagar's bed and even her clothes had traces of the minister's semen.
In her statement, the rape victim had told the CBI that she had gone to Nagar's residence for a government job, but the minister had dragged her inside his bedroom and raped her.
Nagar quit as Minister for State of Food and Civil Supplies under the Ashok Gehlot government in September. Citing it being an election year and also the state assembly polls in Rajasthan scheduled for 1 December, Congress high command suspended Nagar early this month.
Following this, the CBI took over the probe on October 9 from the Rajasthan Police. Earlier, the 53-year-old minister had said that the rape case against him was a political conspiracy by the Opposition to malign his reputation.
The minister was produced in a local court on Saturday and was sent to police custody till 29 October.
