FILE photo: Nihalchand Meghwal, Minister of State, Chemicals and Fertilisers
Nihalchand Meghwal, the minister accused by a woman from Rajasthan of raping her three years ago, met with Home Minister Rajnath Singh today, two days after he said he would not resign over the scandal.
(Why Should I Resign, Asks Minister Accused by Woman of Rape)Mr Meghwal, 43, has been asked to appear in a court in Jaipur next month in connection with the case. He has not so far been named as a suspect by the police, a fact his party has stressed in his defense as opposition parties call for his removal from the government.
But in what will likely bolster the opposition's attack, a video shared by the woman's family shows the minister hugging her husband at their wedding in December 2010. The politician has not denied knowing him.
NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the video or its contents.
The woman alleges that two months after she got married, her husband, a property dealer with political ambitions, began drugging her and allowing a series of men including Nihalchand to rape her.
"He locked me up and threatened that he would have my sisters kidnapped if I resisted," she said.
('Was Told Not to Take on Powerful Men': Rape Survivor who Named Union Minister)NDTV has accessed a letter written in 2012 by Jaipur's Police Commissioner to investigating officers, asking them to arrest the woman's husband and interrogate him about whether he filmed his wife's sexual encounters with other men, and how he acquired an array of cars despite a simple income.
The arrest never took place and in December that year, the police said the charges appeared fabricated and closed the case, a decision validated by a trial court.
The woman appealed against that decision in a higher court in Jaipur which has asked the minister and other men named by her including her husband to appear on August 20 to respond to the allegations against him.
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