Former AAP minister Sandeep Kumar arrested for rape

New Delhi: Sacked AAP Minister Sandeep Kumar, who was earlier on Saturday booked for rape following the complaint by a woman who figured in a video with him, has been arrested, police said.

Sandeep Kumar has been arrested, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Vikramjit Singh.

The woman had approached Sultanpuri police station in north Delhi with a complaint of sexual harassment against the former minister following which a case was filed, a police officer told IANS.

Sandeep Kumar was charged under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc. with intent to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code, the officer said.

He was also booked under the Information Technology Act's Section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form), the officer added.

The police officer said that the woman alleged in her complaint that she was sexually harassed by Sandeep Kumar, who was Social Welfare and Women and Child Development Minister, at his office where she had gone to get her ration card made.

She also alleged that he had offered her a spiked cold drink following which she could not recall what exactly happened with her and how she had acted.

"The complainant said that he (Kumar) made a video and circulated it. He had assured her that he would provide jobs to her children," the officer told IANS.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday recommended "exemplary" punishment to Sandeep Kumar while the AAP suspended him from the party's primary membership. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held on Saturday morning.

Sandeep Kumar was sacked on Wednesday over an alleged "sex video" involving him. On Thursday, he defended himself, saying he had resigned on his own and alleged that he had been targeted because he was a Dalit.