GUWAHATI: Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) president Naba Kumar Sarania has countered the rape charges against an elected member of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) from the party as “baseless while asserting that the party would file a defamation case against those behind “false propaganda.”
Ghanashyam Das, the GSP candidate who was elected from Dihira constituency and sworn in as an executive member of the fourth BTC last Tuesday, was accused in a minor girl’s alleged rape case, registered last year.
In April last year, the city police here had arrested Das on charges of raping the girl who was employed as a domestic help with a family.
A city-based NGO had filed an FIR against Das following which he was arrested on various charges including provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was however released on bail a few months later.
Defending the lone candidate from GSP to win the election, the party president said the case was closed before he was given nomination to contest the BTC polls from the party.
“The girl too had in her statement mentioned that Das was not involved in the case. A DNA test was done and there was no evidence against him. So we believe that this could be conspiracy…there could be vested interests at work and a political angle here,” Sarania told the media.
“We will file a criminal defamation case against those behind such false propaganda in a couple of days and appeal to the state government thereafter to take action against them,” he said.