Beant Singh’s grandson Gurkirat is AICC Secy for HP, Katia ghost may haunt him

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 15

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday named Khanna lawmaker Gurkirat Singh Kotli the new party secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh triggering questions about Kotli’s past.

Kotli, a grandson of slain Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, had faced trial in the 1994 abduction and molestation of a French tourist Katia Darnand.

Although Kotli and accomplices were acquitted in the case on April 10, 1999, after the victim failed to pursue the matter, the ghost of the past continues to loom over him.

Gandhi’s decision to make Kotli the AICC secretary for Himachal is part of his ongoing party restructuring drive. Only recently, Gandhi rested former minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as AICC General Secretary for Himachal, appointing lesser-known former Rajya Sabha MP Rajni Patil as state in charge instead.

Back in Delhi, Congress insiders raised eyebrows on Kotli’s appointment considering the National Commission for Women sent a notice to Punjab Government in September 2017 in a petition demanding reopening of the Katia molestation case.

The petition was filed by Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Then NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam even summoned a DCP in the matter for an explanation. The petitioners said appropriate sections had not been included. They sought a fresh trial.