Assam rape-accused MLA Nizam Uddin Choudhury goes into hiding

GUWAHATI: An Assam MLA has gone into hiding after a married woman filed a case against him alleging that she was raped by him. The police said there was no trace of the All India United Democratic Front MLA, Nizam Uddin Choudhury who represents the Algapur constituency in southern Assam's Barak Valley.

"He is absconding and we are not getting trace of him. He was in Guwahati recently when we tried to reach him but got no success. Our investigation is on," inspector Surajit Choudhury, officer-in-charge of Hailakandi Sadar Police Station, told reporters. "We don't know where he is - if he is in the state or outside the state. We are searching for him," Choudhury added.

Efforts to reach the 45-year-old MLA proved futile. His mobile was switched off for hours together. In an FIR, the woman alleged that she was raped thrice by the MLA - twice at her residence and once at the circuit house in Hailakandi.

She also alleged that her husband Sajan Laskar had facilitated the rape. She said following the incidents, the husband



had locked her up in the house but she somehow managed to escape and file the FIR with the police. The MLA had earlier rubbished the charges terming them as a "cooked up story".

"The woman's husband used to take private tuition of my children and that's how I come to know him. The couple got married three months ago but as they quarrelled often, the husband did not sleep at home. Recently, he spent a few days in my house. So, in order to settle scores with her husband, she cooked up a story, framing me with the charge of rape. This is a political conspiracy to defame me in public. Had it not been so, she would not have waited for two months to file the case," the MLA had told TNIE.

"Will a sensible man give his wife to sleep with another man? And how can I commit rape on her at her house when she has three-four brothers among other family members? I cannot do it at the circuit house either because I am always accompanied by my PSOs (personal security officers). I am in touch with my legal counsel and I will soon take legal recourse," he had said.