Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday accepted the resignation of Minister of State for Khadi and Dairy Babulal Nagar, who is accused of raping a 35-year-old woman at his residence.
“Chief Minister Gehlot has accepted the resignation of Nagar who quit his post on Thursday, and has forwarded it to Governor Margret Alva,” Press adviser in CMO Mohd Yasin said.
The 53-year-old Minister had on Thursday tendered his resignation.
“I have resigned on moral grounds so that an impartial probe can be carried out as I am not guilty in the alleged case. The charge against me is totally unfounded. It is the handiwork of my political rivals,” Nagar had said.
The woman had alleged that the Minister, who had helped her in the past, called her to his house on September 11, promising to get her a job. On some pretext, the Minister took her into a bedroom and raped her, she said.
“When I protested, he clamped his hand down on my mouth, hit me and assaulted me,” she had said, claiming that the politician then threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed anything.
The Sodala Police station had booked Nagar for allegedly raping, threatening and beating up the woman. After registering the case under various sections of the IPC, police referred the case to the CID crime branch since it involved a sitting MlA.
Meanwhile, attacking the State Government over the rape charge against Minister Babulal Nagar, the BJP on Friday demanded that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot should immediately resign, saying his Ministers have often faced “serious charges”. “This is a Government of rapists and its Ministers have often faced serious charges. If the Chief Minister has any shame left, he should resign immediately,” State BJP chief Vasundhara Raje said in a statement released on late Thursday night. “The State’s image is being tarnished and adversely affected by such rape cases in which Government’s Ministers and other elected representatives are blamed openly,” she said.
Raje claimed nine Ministers of the Gehlot Cabinet had faced different allegations and resigned during his tenure. She said Nagar should have resigned immediately after the allegations and demanded to know why he has not yet been arrested.
Nagar has been booked for allegedly raping, threatening and beating up the woman on September 11 after calling her to his official bungalow in Civil lines on the pretext of giving her a job.