Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh yesterday vowed to file a defamation case against a party legislator who accused him of “exploiting” women to promise ticket to contest the Punjab assembly polls.
“The charges levelled by (Devinder) Sahrawat against me are baseless and malicious. I will file a defamation case against Sahrawat for spoiling my image,” Sanjay Singh told reporters here.
He said the allegation was a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Akali Dal against him and the AAP in a bid to derail its campaign in Punjab.
“The BJP and Akalis are rattled by the AAP’s success in Punjab as they know we are getting over 100 seats there. The Delhi MLA is being used to defame me and the party,” he added.
In a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sehrawat on Sunday said: “I saw disturbing reports about women being exploited in Punjab in return for ticket. The MLAs of Delhi are unaware about what is being done by party representatives in Punjab.
“Now the situation is getting indefensible and disgraceful. Action needs to be taken to remove rotten elements,” Sehrawat said.
The AAP has emerged as a major player in Punjab, where elections are due early next year.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court yesterday extended the police custody of sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar, arrested on charges of rape, till September 8.
Kumar was arrested following a complaint by a woman who figured in a video clip with him in an objectionable position.
Special Judge Poonam Chaudhary remanded Kumar in three-day police custody after he was presented in court on the expiry of his one-day police custody.
The former social welfare and women and child development minister was arrested on Saturday after the woman approached Sultanpuri police station in north Delhi with a complaint of sexual harassment against him.
A case was filed and Kumar was booked under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, with intent to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He was also charged under the Information Technology Act’s section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form).
The woman in her complaint alleged that she was sexually harassed by Kumar at his office-cum-residence in Sultanpuri area where she had gone to get her ration card made.
She alleged that Kumar offered her soft drinks laced with sedatives following which she failed to recall the exact sequence of events or how she had acted.
A Delhi police team on Sunday visited the house where the woman was allegedly raped.