Punjab, India: On April 21, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Jalalabad Jagdeep Goldy Kamboj’s father, Surinder Kamboj, was arrested in an extortion case for demanding Rs 10 lakh from a property dealer in exchange for settling a rape case against him by a woman from Jalalabad. He had taken Rs 50,000 from the property dealer already.
DSP Atul Soni confirmed the instance and stated that Rs 50,000 amount was recovered from Surinder Kamboj during his arrest. The AAP MLA’s father was arrested based on the property dealer Sunil Kumar’s complaint, who has been charged with rape in another case. However, Sunil Kumar has not been arrested yet.
As per the FIR, the woman Rano Bai approached Sunil Kumar for purchasing a property at Dr Khan Wali Street. She stated in her complaint, “On April 20, at about 3.30 pm, I contacted Sunil Kumar to show me a property as I intended to buy one. Sunil showed me a vacant house which he said was his own property and he raped me. After coming home, I told my sons about the incident and later I went to the civil hospital to get a medical examination done. On the morning of April 21, I came to the police station to get my complaint lodged.”
As per the police report, the AAP MLA’s father contacted Sunil Kumar and informed him about Rano Bai’s visit to the hospital for a medical check-up before heading to the police station to file a complaint alleging rape against him. Then, Surinder Kamboj sought Rs 10 lakhs from the property dealer for resolving the issue.
Thereafter, Sunil Kumar filed a complaint against Surinder Kamboj alleging that he paid Rs 50,000 out of fear of his name being tarnished. Furthermore, the property dealer claims that he has a recording of the telephonic exchange with Surinder Kamboj on his phone.
Sunil Kumar, in his complaint, said that he got a call from the woman on April 20 claiming that she wanted to purchase a house. He showed her the house pursuant to their conversation. He told the police that, “At 5 pm, the woman rang me up to say that her son was beating her for roaming around with me. Her daughter-in-law too called me a few minutes later and accused me of being a rapist.”
“Later in the evening, I received a call from Surinder Kamboj who told me that the police will book me in the rape case and called me to his house for a settlement. Surinder Kamboj demanded Rs 10 lakh as settlement, following which I complained to the police,” he added.
The Jalalabad Police has charged Surinder Kamboj, Rano Bai, Rano Bai’s son Sunil Rai and daughter-in-law (whose name is not stated in the FIR) u/s 384, 389 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code based on Sunil Kumar’s complaint.
It is pertinent to note that Surinder Kamboj served as Chairman of the Land Mortgage Bank in Jalalabad. Earlier, he contested for the Jalalabad assembly seat but lost.
AAP MLA Goldy Kamboj said, “We have zero-tolerance for corruption, whosoever may be involved. I am staying away from my father since long and have nothing to do with this. The law will take its own course. I won’t interfere.”
Furthermore, the Chandigarh Police booked Surinder Kamboj in a flesh trade racket and vehicle theft in 2007, and he is facing about 14 criminal cases. It is pertinent to note that Rano Bai is also facing a case u/s 306 of the IPC for abetment to suicide, as her live-in-partner committed suicide.
In the 2022 Punjab elections, Congress-rebel turned AAP leader Goldy Kamboj defeated Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal from his Jalalabad stronghold with a staggering 30,374 votes.
