The Indian capital's minister for women and child development has been sacked after a video emerged apparently showing him having a threesome.
Sandeep Kumar, Delhi’s 36-year old minister for women and child development, was fired late Wednesday evening within minutes of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal receiving a CD containing the sex tape from a whistleblower.
“We never try to cover up wrongdoings whenever evidence comes up against our ministers or party workers,” Mr Kejriwal said in a statement yesterday.
He said Mr Kumar had been caught doing a “wrong thing” and had betrayed the mission of honesty, accountability and good governance that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) represented.
“He has betrayed us” Mr Kejriwal declared.
Mr. Kumar, who is married and the father of one, claimed he was the victim of a ‘political conspiracy’ over the film, which showed him on a bed dressed only in shorts kissing one of two women in the room and was leaked to the media and on the internet.
The film also showed the sacked minister kissing another woman and included gravelly pictures of the half-naked minister in a sexually compromising position.
“There is no authenticity in this CD. It’s a conspiracy against me, because I am a Dalit,” said Mr Kumar referring to the low-caste Indian community to which he belongs.
At a public function in Delhi on International Women’s Day last year Mr Kumar thanked his wife Ritu for the ‘sacrifices’ she had made for him.
Each morning, he added to thunderous applause, he touched her feet in a gesture that is considered highly respectful in India.
Indian politicians are known for their public prurience, even though many have licentious private lives, which are rarely, if at all, discussed in public.
Mr Kumar is the third minister AAP has dismissed after it stormed to power in a landslide victory in early 2015.
Food minister Asim Ahmed Khan was sacked last year for allegedly demanding a bribe, whilst law minister Jitender Tomar was removed for faking his educational qualifications.
(Telegraph)
