Sexual misconduct allegation | NCSC issues notice to Mann govt as victim names minister Kataruchak

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, however, had earlier said that he had not seen the videos. He had also slammed Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira — who was first to raise the issue after handing over the purported videos to Governor Banwarilal Purohit — saying the Bholath MLA “has a habit of making baseless allegations to stay in the limelight and draw political mileage”.

Meanwhile, the victim, who belongs a village in Pathankot and is a member of the scheduled castes community, Friday morning released a video alleging that he was subjected to sexual misconduct at the hands of Kataruchak from 2013 to 2014, and the same continued till 2021. He also claimed that it was him in the videos, the copies of which have been handed over to Governor Purohit by Khaira.

“I am now on the run and submitting the complaint in Delhi as the minister is threatening to harm me and my family. I request the NCSC to take action against the minister over the sexual misconduct and provide me security,” the victim said.

As per the victim, Kataruchak had approached him “by sending a friend request on Facebook in 2013-14. He alleged that once he accepted the friend request, Kataruchak allegedly started making advances towards him. He claimed that he was “too young at the time” to understand anything and added that Kataruchak later called him to Gurdaspur and took him to his office for his “sexual excesses.”

“Since he was an influential person, he had promised me a government job due to which I remained mum. His sexual excesses continued till 2021. However, he met me for the last time on Diwali in 2021 and he neither provided me with a job nor did he meet me after that,” the victim alleged.

After receiving the complaint, NCSC chairperson Vijay Sampla, issuing a notice, asked the Punjab chief secretary and the director general of police to “investigate the matter and to submit the action taken report, immediately, through post or email, based on facts and information on the action taken on the allegation/matter”.

The NCSC also cautioned the officers that if the action taken report is not received, then the commission might exercise the powers of the civil court conferred on it under Article 338 of the Constitution of India and issue a summon for personal appearance before the commission in Delhi.

There was no immediate reaction from the Punjab government over the NCSC order. Kataruchak too could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Earlier, soon after Khaira submitted a complaint against the minister and handed him two videos, Governor Purohit had asked the Chandigarh DGP to look into the complaint and conduct a forensic examination of the videos.

Multiples sources, privy to the developments, said, forensic examination revealed that the videos were not morphed.

Khaira had later released a video message claiming that he had received information from his sources in the police that he would be booked and arrested. Khaira said he had not shared the victim’s video anywhere.

A government official said that anybody who makes public a pornography video can be booked. “In this case, Khaira had sent the video to the Governor. If anybody has a complaint, he can only send a complaint stating that he was being harassed. The videos should not be given to anyone,” an official said.

The video controversy has erupted ahead of Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection scheduled on May 10.