<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday intervened to find out the veracity of the rape charges levelled against a junior minister in his Cabinet, Nihalchand Meghwal, even as the BJP continued to defend the leader from Rajasthan.<br /><br /></p>.<p>It is learnt that Modi tasked two of his ministers — Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad — to go into the details of the case against the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers given the growing clamour that the NDA government is protecting a rape accused minister.<br /><br />Meghwal met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday to give his side of the story as women’s organisations insisted that he step down.<br /><br />Both Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are believed to be convinced that Meghwal was not involved in the heinous crime. In fact, Jaitley, in a meeting with BJP spokespersons and TV panelists, asked them to defend the minister.<br /><br />In 2011, a woman had got an FIR registered in Jaipur, accusing “Nihal Chand” and 18 others of rape and other offences.<br /><br />The BJP leaders argue that the police had filed a closure report before a Jaipur local court in December 2012 during the Congress regime, suggesting that the allegations were baseless. But the victim filed a revision petition in the case and the local court has now issued notices to all the accused.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday intervened to find out the veracity of the rape charges levelled against a junior minister in his Cabinet, Nihalchand Meghwal, even as the BJP continued to defend the leader from Rajasthan.<br /><br /></p>.<p>It is learnt that Modi tasked two of his ministers — Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad — to go into the details of the case against the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers given the growing clamour that the NDA government is protecting a rape accused minister.<br /><br />Meghwal met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday to give his side of the story as women’s organisations insisted that he step down.<br /><br />Both Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are believed to be convinced that Meghwal was not involved in the heinous crime. In fact, Jaitley, in a meeting with BJP spokespersons and TV panelists, asked them to defend the minister.<br /><br />In 2011, a woman had got an FIR registered in Jaipur, accusing “Nihal Chand” and 18 others of rape and other offences.<br /><br />The BJP leaders argue that the police had filed a closure report before a Jaipur local court in December 2012 during the Congress regime, suggesting that the allegations were baseless. But the victim filed a revision petition in the case and the local court has now issued notices to all the accused.</p>
