A BJP MLA from Haryana and another man have been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of raping a woman in a hotel after giving her sedative-laced drink.
The court absolved BJP legislator Umesh Aggarwal and Sandeep Luthra for alleged offences of rape, causing hurt by means of poison and criminal intimidation under provisions of the IPC, saying the prosecution has not been able to prove its case against them beyond reasonable doubt.
Additional Sessions Judge Shail Jain said the woman had turned hostile and there was nothing incriminating against the accused. The judge also dispensed with the recording of the statements of the accused.
The court also acquitted one Rekha Suri, a friend of the woman who had taken her to a hotel in Faridabad, for alleged offences of abetment to rape and causing her hurt by giving her poison. The three accused were out on bail.
The court noted that the alleged victim had deposed that “Suri had not administered any intoxicated substance in her cold drink or that Aggarwal and Luthra did not rape her”.
She had also told the court that on January 1, 2015, the two men had not threatened or stopped her from disclosing the incident to anyone.
The court had framed charges against the three accused and they pleading not guilty and claimed trial. They had claimed innocence and that they were falsely implicated.
As per the police, the woman had alleged that on January 5, 2015 at the insistence of her friend Suri, both of them had gone to a hotel in Faridabad on January 3.
After sometime, Suri left on the pretext of some work and later, Aggarwal came to meet Suri and gave her a drink. After consuming it, she became unconscious, she had alleged, adding that she was raped thereafter.
Next morning, Aggarwal called Luthra, who also raped the woman, the victim alleged in the complaint, adding that Luthra later dropped her at Tilak Nagar in West Delhi.
( Source – PTI )
