Congress MLA and former Madhya Pradesh minister Umang Singar has been booked for allegedly mentally harassing and raping a woman, who claims to be his wife, in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, an official said on Monday.
The woman has alleged that Singhar repeatedly raped her against her will on the pretext of marriage in the past, adding that she was also mentally harassed by the MLA. According to the police FIR when the woman told Singhar that she would lodge a complaint against him then he married her on 16 April this year in Bhopal.
After the wedding, Singhar’s behaviour changed and he started assaulting her physically and mentally.
According to her complaint, after two months of their marriage, the woman alleged that Singhar used to abuse her, raped and assaulted her, made an obscene video of her and blackmailed her. He also used to have unnatural sex, the woman alleged in her complaint.
Acting on the woman’s complaint, the police on Sunday registered an FIR against the Congress MLA.
However, Umang Singhar has alleged police took one-sided action in an FIR against him. He said that police did not take action on his complaint letter submitted at Naogaon police station.
Dhar’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Aditya Pratap Singh said that a case was registered against Singhar under the Indian Penal Code Sections 498-A (domestic violence), 377 (Unnatural offences), 376 (2) (n) (rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (obscene act), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Defending himself, the MLA said, “It is our family matter. The woman who has made an allegation can only tell whats her intention. It is very painful if someone makes such allegations against their family.” “I had also complained to the police about the way she mentally harassed me and financially harassed me, but nothing happened in that matter till now. I was suffering from torture for the last five to six months. My condition had become such that I might commit suicide,” he said.
Meanwhile, Singhar’s complaint letter has gone viral on social media. According to the viral letter, Singhar wrote that he married Pratima on 16 April this year and since then she was blackmailing him. She told him that she married him only for money and was demanding Rs 10 crore from him. She also threatened to end his political career if he failed to give her money.
She wanted to implicate him in a false case, so action should be taken against her, he further wrote in the letter.
The 48-year-old Singhar represents the Gandhwani constituency in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He was the former forest minister of the state under the tenure of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath.