Man who implicated Ruchika's brother held

Cops arrest Gajendra Singh, a proclaimed offender, who named Ashu Girhotra in cases of car thefts

In a fresh twist in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, cops claim to have arrested Gajendra Singh, who had implicated Ashu Girhotra, Ruchika's brother, in several cases of theft. Singh was allegedly held in Pune, Maharashtra.

Singh, a resident of Ara in Bihar, is a proclaimed offender from Haryana and is wanted in a number of car theft cases since 1993.

In his statements to the Panchkula police in 1994, Singh had allegedly named Ashu and another youngster Sandeep as his accomplices in as many as six cases of car thefts.

Ashu's family members, in their complaints to Superintendent of Police, Panchkula, in December 2009, had alleged Singh had named Ashu as an accomplice at the behest of top cop SPS Rathore, who was the Inspector General of Police at that time and allegedly wanted the family to withdraw the complaint of molestation filed by Ruchika against him.u00a0

The Girhotra family is alleging Singh made false statements under pressure from Rathore and there are also unconfirmed reports he was bribed by the senior cop to implicate the Girhotras.

Later, Ashu and Sandeep were cleared. Singh was convicted. The Haryana police, assisted by their Pune counterparts, nabbed Singh on Saturday night from his dhaba at Baner Road, Pune.

Fresh charges

In another controversy, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing criminal charges against former state police chief SPS Rathore, on Sunday said the Girhotra family was not cooperating with them. "We have sent many notices to Ruchika's and her brother Ashu but they have not responded," said SIT chief Inspector General (Security) SS Kapoor.

But Ruchika's family and their lawyer said, "The SIT officials are asking Ashu and his father to sign blank papers," said Anand Prakash, the father of Ruchika's friend.