Rebel Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLA Ram Niwas Surjakhera has been accused of rape by a woman and the Jind Police have lodged a case against him, reports said.
The complainant is a 28-year-old woman who claimed that the JJP legislator sexually assaulted her in 2021. The lawmaker sexually exploited her after getting in touch with her with a false assurance of securing her a government job, she said in the complaint. Haryana Police on Thursday confirmed that it has registered a case of rape under the relevant legal provisions and launched a probe on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ram Niwas Surjakhera maintains that the complaint is politically motivated and bogus. He has dismissed the allegation as part of "conspiracies" against him ahead of the October 1 Haryana Assembly polls.
In a post in Hindi on X, Surjakhera said he has come to know from sources about the registration of a "false FIR of rape" against him at the behest of "some anti-social elements".
— Ramniwas Surjakhera विधायक (@iRamniwasS) August 29, 2024
"I had never thought that politics will stoop so low. To weaken me under conspiracies just before the Assembly election is unfortunate.... I am ready to face each 'Agnipariksha'.... My appeal is that an impartial probe should be conducted and I am ready to cooperate," he said.
For the unversed, Surjakhera recently resigned from the Assembly. Surjakhera resigned from the state Assembly as the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLA from Narwana on August 22. He had openly supported the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
After tendering his resignation from the Assembly, Surjakhera had claimed that he and three other legislators will be joining the BJP in the next few days.
