GANDHINAGAR: Succumbing to pressure, the Gujarat government on Wednesday agreed to a judicial probe into the sensational Naliya gang rape and sex racket case allegedly involving four Kutch BJP leaders.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani made an announcement on the probe in the assembly after opposition Congress members voiced the demand, forcing frequent adjournments of the house.
"The government is ready for a judicial probe. We are committed to ensuring that all guilty are punished and no one is spared," Rupani said.
The assembly was adjourned on Tuesday during Question Hour as Congress members created a ruckus over their demand for the judicial probe.
Governor O.P. Kohli had to cut short his customary opening address.
Earlier, a state Congress delegation called on Kohli at his official residence to seek his intervention in the matter.
A 24-year-old woman from Kutch had filed an FIR in Naliya town of Kutch district last month, alleging that she had been raped repeatedly by nine persons, including the four local Bharatiya Janata Party office-bearers, since last year.
She said the accused had made a video clip of the crime and threatened to put it on the internet. She claimed that these men had similarly trapped many women and were running a sex racket.
The state government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and asked the Crime Investigation Department to monitor the probe, but the Congress insisted on a probe by a high court judge.
The opposition party had also taken out a 500-km 'Beti Bachao' march on the issue from Naliya to state capital Gandhinagar.
"The BJP does not wish to allow an investigation by a high court judge, lest it throws up bigger names, including in Gandhinagar and even Delhi, in the sex racket," Kutch legislator Shaktisinh Gohil, who is also Congress national spokesperson, told the media.