Varnika stalker’s cousin accused of threatening minor to drop rape case

CHANDIGARH: The stalking of Varnika Kundu, a senior IAS officer’s daughter, by Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala’s son last week is not the only case the Baralas are grappling with at present. On Tuesday, the Punjab and Haryana high court asked Haryana police to file a status report into an investigation of allegations that Subhash’s nephew, Kuldeep Barala, and others had pressured a minor girl from Fatehabad into changing her statement after she was allegedly kidnapped and raped by one of Kuldeep’s relatives in May. The report must be submitted by August 31. The girl has charged police with not acting against the accused because of alleged pressure from Subhash Barala despite the fact that “there is sufficient oral as well as medical evidence” against them.“Till date no action has been taken against the respondents because they are very influential people and close relative of MLA of the Tohana constituency (Subhash Barala). Hence, local police under their influence are not taking any action,” the Haryana teen has pleaded in her petition. Justice Lisa Gill sought the report after hearing a petition filed by the minor survivor through her mother. The plea was filed on June 1 and the court had earlier sought a copy of her statement recorded under Section 164 of CrPC. The survivor has alleged that she was illegally confined till midnight at Dhani Shera village in Tohana. The FIR of kidnapping was first registered on May 8 at Tohana police station in which the girl had alleged that Vikram Singh of the same village as the girl had abducted her after conspiring with Kuldeep, his wife and others. Vikram is a distant relative of Barala. Police had found the girl the next day and taken her to Bhuna police station. The girl said in her petition in the high court that she had been pressurised into saying before the magistrate that she had gone with Vikram on her own because of some family problems.