CHANDIGARH: The “objectionable” videos of Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand
Kataruchak caught in the act of ‘sexual misconduct’ is not morphed and is genuine, and Governor Banwarilal Purohit has sent the findings of the forensic report to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, sources said.
The episode will affect the ruling AAP’s prospects in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-polls slated for May 10. On Saturday, the governor sent his report to CM Mann attaching the forensic report of the two video clippings with the complaint made by Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira who has demanded the expulsion of the minister from the state cabinet.
Chandigarh DGP Praveer Ranjan had submitted the forensic report to the governor following Purohit’s directive to the police to check the authenticity of the video clippings submitted by Khaira.
The other person in the two video clippings -- one is of three minutes and the other, eight minutes -- had approached the National Commission for Scheduled Caste on Friday issued a notice to the Punjab chief secretary and DGP to get the matter investigated and asked for a report from the government. It had also asked the state government to provide security to the victim, said to be from Pathankot.
The Congress, SAD, and the BJP have demanded that the minister should be immediately dropped from the cabinet and arrested. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “This is a terrifying story of sexual exploitation. Kataruchak has exploited an SC boy. We demand an immediate resignation of the minister and an impartial probe.’’