Amritsar religious leader refutes allegation of sexual assault

A day after a woman accused a local Hindu religious leader of sexually exploiting her, and lodged a complaint with the city police, the leader refuted the allegations, saying the woman and her “accomplices” were levelling baseless allegations to defame him.

In a press conference here on Wednesday, Ashneel Maharaj, the religious leader, said he had lodged FIRs against certain “radicalised” elements over criminal intimidation.

He claimed that the police had probed the accusations levelled by the woman “under the influence of radicalised persons”, and had given him the “clean chit”.

Rajat Anand, his legal counsel, said Ashneel Maharaj had earlier lodged an extortion complaint against the woman and her “accomplices” Daljit Singh Randhawa and Baljinder Singh.

He said Baljinder was currently in jail, while the woman was recently released from prison on bail, and the bail plea of Randhawa had been rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Anand alleged that, a few years ago, the trio had blackmailed the religious leader, and extorted Rs 5 lakh from him. He claimed that the woman herself had later recorded a video admitting that she was making statements under the influence of certain individuals.

Sandeep Gorsi, the legal counsel of the woman, claimed that the Police Commissioner had assigned the investigation to a woman officer, with the probe underway.