On Wednesday, December 20, a woman in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, filed a case against nine people, including former Congress MLA of Barmer Mevaram Jain and RPS officer Anand Singh Rajpurohit, accusing them of rape, assault and harassment. The accused also include two more police officers – Barmer SHO Gangaram Khawa and Sub Inspector Daud Khan and Pradhan Girdhari Singh Sodha. The high-profile case has been registered at the Rajeev Gandhi Nagar Police Station in Jodhpur.
In the FIR, she alleged that the former Congress MLA Mevaram Jain along with the accused police officers raped her and molested her minor daughter two years ago and also raped a minor friend of hers.
Former Congress MLA used to rape minor girls. When anyone refuses, he used to torture them in brutal ways, he & his goondas used to insert sticks in their private part..
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) December 22, 2023
The Gehlot govt didn't even act against him.. Now when the govt has changed, a FIR has been registered… pic.twitter.com/EEL70jmKaK
The victim went on to say that the Congress MLA had an affinity for young females and would frequently put pressure on her to bring other young girls to him. When the victim refused to comply with his demands, Mevaram Jain along with the accused police officers visited her house in her absence and molested her minor daughter.
The woman alleged that approximately five years ago, as a result of her father’s illness, she met Ram Swaroop from Barmer, who assured her that he would assist her.
He took advantage of her vulnerability to rape her, record the incident, and then continued to abuse her sexually.
She stated that in 2021, Ram Swaroop introduced her to Mevaram Jain, who was then the MLA of Barmer, at her flat, where the duo raped her and has been continuously raping her since then.
They also molested her minor daughter, raped one of her friends and insisted she bring other women to them.
She also alleged that the police officers and other accused threatened her against revealing the matter and coerced her into signing certain blank documents.
She said that the accused threatened her with Bhanwari Devi’s fate and said they would implicate her and the other victims in bogus cases when she protested against the sexual assault of her minor daughter. In fact, in November 2022, Ram Swaroop had also filed a false case in Barmer against five people, including two women, alleging sextortion and demand of Rs 50 lakh, she said.
The kidnap and murder of 37-year-old auxiliary nurse midwife Bhanwari Devi of Jodhpur in 2011 had created a big political turmoil jeopardising the political careers of two political heavyweight families of the Jodhpur region – the Madernas and the Bishnois and by unsettling the Ashok Gehlot government back in 2011.
Accused police officers inserted a stick in my private part to force us to comply with the former Congress MLA’s demands: victim states in the FIR
Recalling how she and her minor friend were brutalised on the former Congress MLA’s orders, the victim described how they were once brought to a police station, stripped naked, and beaten by male police officials, further exposing how the state police worked hand in glove with the former Congress MLA.
According to the victim, the police, in their effort to threaten and intimidate them to comply with the demands of the Congress leader, inserted sticks in her private parts. She recalled how the male officers placed a stick between both the legs of her minor friend and had two officers stand on either side to torture her. Even after all of this, when they refused to give in to their demands, Barmer SHO Gangaram Khawa asked Pradhan Girdhari Singh Sodha to get him a stick which he inserted in her private part, she alleged, adding that this happened in the presence of the Congress MLA and other accused officers.
Forced us to lie on camera while holding a gun to our head: Victim makes some other serious allegations against the former Rajasthan Congress MLA and accused police officers
Anand Singh Rajpurohit, the RPS officer, and Barmer SHO Gangaram Khawa, according to the victim, put a gun to her head and demanded that she record a video in which she was made to take full responsibility and clear the Congress MLA of any wrongdoing. She was made to acknowledge on camera that she was a blackmailer and extortionist and was blackmailing the Congress MLA and his aides. She was also asked to admit that she did not know Congress MLA Mevaram Jain or RPS officer Anand Singh Rajpurohit personally. She was asked to acknowledge in front of the camera that she had no desire to pursue any case for the molestation of her minor daughter.
Who is Mevaram Jain?
Mevaram Jain was elected as the MLA from the Barmer constituency on a Congress ticket three times. He, however, lost the last election to BJP rebel Priyanka Choudhary.
Over a year back, some explicit pictures/CD of Jain had surfaced, which Jain had claimed to be doctored, and he filed a case at the Kotwali Police Station in Barmer. He accused the editor and two reporters of a local newspaper of blackmailing him with a threat to make the CD public. In his complaint, the Congress leader had alleged that the three scribes were demanding Rs 10 from him in exchange for the CD.
The zonal unit of the Enforcement Directorate, Jaipur, has registered a case of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with this case after it was learnt that an exchange of Rs 5 crore had allegedly taken place in this case.
Mevaram Jain was also involved in a money laundering case. ED had registered a case against him.
Meanwhile, on Friday, December 22, the Rajasthan High Court, in the alleged rape case, granted a stay on the former Congress MLA’s arrest. The hearing, which took place in court number 6 on Friday, concluded with the decision to halt Jain’s arrest in connection with the charges of rape and engaging in obscene acts with a minor girl.
