BJP leader Bharat Pandya denied the charges and said that the identity cards in circulation were fake.
Ahmedabad:
Days after five people, including three BJP workers, were arrested in connection with an alleged gangrape of a married woman in Kutch's Naliya town, the identity card of the woman has gone viral, which has led to an open political battle in Gujarat.
The Congress has claimed that the BJP has issued 60 such cards - which identified women as 'social ladies' - in the district and alleged this to be part of a larger sex racket involving BJP leaders.
The BJP, however, refuted the Congress' charge.
"It has to be either VP, secretary or other posts. No such post as 'social lady' exists. Also, the wrong
mandal area names are mentioned on the cards, which do not bear the signature of the president. It is clearly a fake card in circulation," said Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya.
Mr Pandya had earlier said that the three accused BJP workers have been suspended from the party.
Given the sensitive nature of the case, a state woman's commission team visited Naliya, where the gangrape allegedly took place, and claimed that a detailed inquiry has been instituted. The Congress, however, demanded a judicial probe into the matter.
"If there is an unbiased probe, names of more leaders will crop up," said senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil.
"The woman has alleged that the accused had threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter the police," he added.
The 25-year-old woman, in her woman, alleged that she was raped by 10 men on different occasions for a year since August 2015, including local BJP leader Shantibhai Solanki. She added that the accused shot clips of the incident and used them to blackmail her.
According to the police, the woman attempted suicide thrice in Mumbai. After taking her husband into confidence, she filed a complaint at Naliya police station on January 25.