Rape accused MLA suspended by party

Guwahati: An Assam legislator Gopi Nath Das, who was arrested from Hajo near here on Sunday afternoon 28 days after an FIR was filed under Section 343 of the IPC and Sections 4 and 5(B) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), against him accusing him of rape of a minor girl on August 29, has been suspended by his party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) following his arrest.
Das, a former Congress minister who is currently an MLA of the AIUDF from Boko LAC in Kamrup district, claimed he was a victim of political conspiracy.
His lawyer said Das had pleaded not guilty before the Kamrup Session Court.  “We moved a bail petition which the Court turned down. The police had sought five days’ custody, but the court allowed only two days,” his lawyer informed.
On September 14 however, his lawyer submitted two affidavits purportedly signed by the victim girl’s parents where they had “admitted” that they had “tutored” the girl to complain against the MLA after some people had lured them with a hefty sum of money.
But two days later the girl’s parents filed another FIR, this time alleging that they (the parents and the girl) were ‘kidnapped’ by some people from their village on September 8 and taken to Guwahati the next day where they were forced to sign on some blank papers. These papers were later allegedly submitted in the Gauhati High Court as their affidavits, the second FIR said.