Chandigarh, Jun 1 (PTI) Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to take action against his minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, who is facing charges of “sexual misconduct”.
Alleging that the minister has committed a “heinous crime”, the governor said he does not have any right to stay in the Cabinet.
Earlier, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) had issued a notice to the Punjab government following a complaint of “sexual misconduct” lodged by a Gurdaspur-based male victim against Kataruchak.
Punjab Police formed a three-member special investigation team after that to look into the “sexual misconduct” charge against the minister.
“Do not forget it. It is a heinous crime, which was committed by him (Kataruchak). He does not have the right to stay (in the cabinet),” the governor told reporters here.
“Through you (media), I again want to bring to notice of the chief minister that action be taken against this minister immediately,” he added.
The Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government is facing flak over the issue with the opposition parties demanding action against Kataruchak.
After taking cognisance of the victim’s complaint, the NCSC, last month, had issued a notice to the Punjab government and asked the chief secretary and the director general of police to investigate the matter and submit an action taken report.
The minister had allegedly approached the victim “by sending him a friend request on Facebook in 2013-14 and when he accepted it, Kataruchak allegedly started making advances”, the NSCN had said while quoting from the victim’s complaint.
“Since he was an influential person, he had promised me a government job due to which I remained mum. I was too young at that time to understand anything. But, his sexual excesses continued till 2021. However, he met me for the last time on Diwali in 2021 and he neither provided me with a job, nor met me after that,” the victim had claimed.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira had handed over “highly objectionable video clips of gross misconduct” of an AAP minister to the governor for forensic examination. However, he had not named the minister.
Purohit had then forwarded the forensic report of Kataruchak’s “objectionable” video to Chief Minister Mann. According to a report, the video was not morphed. PTI CHS VSD AQS
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