By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
After the Uttarakhand police claimed to have exposed the conspiracy angle in the Champawat gang rape case, the move has escalated into a slugfest between the ruling BJP and Congress in the hill state.
Giving clean chit to the main accused, the police have arrested two persons including Kamal Rawat the alleged mastermind behind a purported conspiracy to fabricate a gangrape case involving a minor girl in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district. The alleged mastermind Kamal Rawat, who was arrested along with female associate Arjita Rai, is a resident of Salli village. Another accused, Congress leader Anand Singh Mehra, has also been booked in the case.
Initially, father of a teenage girl had filed an FIR alleging that his daughter was gangraped in Salli village where she was allegedly found naked with hands tied.
Immediately after the arrest, BJP state general secretary Deepti Rawat claimed that the incident was orchestrated as part of a “premeditated conspiracy for revenge”. She alleged that, under the guise of this incident, the Congress party is attempting to tarnish the image of both the BJP organization and the government.
She claimed that, regarding the alleged rape case that surfaced in Champawat on May 5, the Congress party is displaying highly irresponsible, insensitive, and shameful behavior. She stated that, based on the preliminary police investigation and the statements given by the affected young woman, it has now become crystal clear that the entire episode was executed as part of a “calculated conspiracy for revenge’. She alleged that Congress State President Ganesh Godiyal and his party leaders are attempting to exploit this situation for political gain by trying to malign the reputation of the BJP organization and the government.
Deepti Rawat claimed that the individual whose name has emerged as the mastermind behind this entire sequence of events—Anand Mehra—is a Congress leader who has been constantly changing his statements. “The manner in which Anand Mehra is now leveling accusations against the affected young woman herself serves as a clear indication that this entire conspiracy was hatched due to his political ambition to contest elections,” she said.
Taking a jibe at him, she suggested that Anand Mehra should engage in positive politics rather than indulging in baseless allegations and counter-allegations.
Taking strong umbrage to the BJP’s allegations, veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat strongly defended Anand Mehra and said the ruling dispensation is making a “malicious attempt” to drag the Congress party into what is, fundamentally, an internal BJP dispute.
“I find it astonishing that the BJP’s top leadership is attempting to implicate the Congress party in this entire affair. I requested and reviewed clippings from all the major newspapers published in Champawat and Dehradun; nowhere did I find any evidence suggesting that Anand Mehra played the role of a conspirator. His only crime appears to be this: when the former BJP Mandal President apprised him of the full details of the incident, he rushed to the police station, where he not only examined the complaint filed by the victim’s father but also viewed a video depicting the naked victim with her hands and feet bound by ropes,” Harish Rawat said on the social media.
“In Champawat, a turf war — driven by the scramble for political scraps and power — is currently raging right down to the Mandal level,” the former Chief Minister said.
“For over 24 hours, this incident continued to be portrayed as a case of gang rape. If any member of the Congress party was involved in this conspiracy, the facts must be revealed, substantiated by concrete evidence. “Shooting the messenger” reflects the arrogance of power; the ruling establishment is making a malicious attempt to drag the Congress party into what is, fundamentally, an internal BJP dispute,” Rawat claimed.
“Let it be remembered: Champawat is the sacred land of Goljyu—the God of Justice,” Rawat reminded the BJP leaders.