Sucha Singh Langah was booked for rape, cheating, criminal conspiracy and other charges on the statement of the alleged victim on September 29, 2017. (File)
In a twist to the rape case against former SAD minister Sucha Singh Langah, the main complainant made a U-turn on Wednesday, telling a Gurdaspur court that she had made no complaint of rape with the police and that all her statements produced in court were either fake or taken under pressure.
The woman was produced by the prosecution in the court of additional sessions judge Prem Kumar as witness.
She also claimed she was not the woman in the video that went viral in the run-up to the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll held on October 11 last year. The police had used the video as evidence in the case against Langah and claimed that the woman had herself submitted the video to them.
Langah was booked for rape, cheating, criminal conspiracy and other charges on the statement of the alleged victim on September 29, 2017. Currently, he is in jail.
Akal Takht had also excommunicated Langah from the Sikh community within a week after he was booked for rape.
Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat had fallen vacant following the death of its sitting MP Vinod Khanna. In the bypoll, Congress fielded its state president Sunil Jakhar against BJP’s Sawarn Salaria. The rape case against Langah had given a handle to the Congress, which had attacked BJP and ally SAD on the issue. Jakhar had won the seat by a huge margin.
Meanwhile, the police claimed their case against Langah was still strong. “She herself submitted an affidavit and the complaint. She also gave us the video clip in a pen drive. Her statement was also registered under CrPC’s section 164 before a local magistrate. Now, she has taken a U-turn. But it will not affect our case against Langah, which is still very strong,” said DSP Gurbans Singh, the investigating officer in the case.
“She was our first witness. She has turned hostile, but we still have 29 more witnesses. We also have the forensic report of CD which confirmed it was not doctored. There is other physical evidence. We are very sure the prosecution will prove its case in court,” said the DSP.
Talking to the media outside court, Langah said, “I always said I was framed in a false case ahead of the bypoll. I was innocent. Now, it has been proved. It was a political conspiracy. Still, I am being harassed in jail. The jail administration is not providing me adequate treatment.”
Langah’s plea for bail in the case has been pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court since December last year.
During the last date of hearing on February 20, Justice Lisa Gill had directed the trial court to record the testimony of the prosecutrix before March 5, which is the next date of hearing in the High Court.
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