New Delhi: Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Arya, whose son Pulkit is the main accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, has been charged by his driver with trying to sexually assault him.The driver also accused Arya of beating him up and threatening to kill him if he disclosed the incident to anyone.A case was registered at Haridwar’s Jawalapur police station against Arya on Tuesday night on the basis of a complaint lodged by his driver, SP (city) Swatantra Kumar said. Arya has been booked under different sections of the IPC including 377 (unnatural offences), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation), Kumar said.The driver, who hails from Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh has accused Arya of touching him inappropriately and trying to sodomise him, the SP (city) said.He had also demanded action against Arya citing a threat to his life.The complainant has said that while he had first approached the police on December 2, no action was taken then. It was only after he sent a written complaint to the SSP that the matter was taken up.According to the complaint, Arya used to ask the driver often to press his legs. While the driver was doing so one night recently, Arya attempted to sexually assault him. “I was hired by the ex-state minister (Arya) on November 12 this year at a salary of Rs 10,000 per month through OLX website. Arya also facilitated a room for my stay at his residence in Haridwar’s Arya Nagar. He would often call me for a massage in the evening and touch me inappropriately,” Hindustan Times quoted the FIR as saying.“On November 20 around 10.30 pm when he was giving massage to Arya, he tried to sodomise me. As I resisted, he said it was just a prank. The next day, I drove Arya and his son Pulkit’s lawyer to meet Pulkit in the jail near Devprayag where he is lodged. I dropped them both at the jail and went home,” the complainant continued.He claimed that when he went to buy groceries after that, three men on bikes hit him on purpose. “I suffered injuries on my head, my arm got fractured and I was admitted to a health facility in Fatehpur. Following the incident, I gave a complaint to the police on November 24.”“The next day, I received a phone call from Arya who asked me to meet him. I again received multiple calls from Arya on December 2 and he insisted on meeting. Around 4.30 pm on December 2, after I met him at his residence, Arya got my signature on plain paper and asked me for a picture, and subsequently threw me out of the house,” he continued.Arya is a former BJP leader who was expelled from the party after the name of his son cropped up as the main accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.Ankita worked as a receptionist at Vanantara resort near Rishikesh owned by Pulkit who allegedly killed her along with two accomplices. The trio are in jail.(With PTI inputs)
