A Panchkula court today framed charges against Ram Kumar Chaudhary, suspended Congress MLA of Himachal Pradesh for murder of a Dalit girl and his trial would begin on August 22.
The charges framed against the MLA are under section 302 (murder), sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged document), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information) and the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
After the district and sessions judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi ordered that charges be framed against him, the MLA pleaded not guilty.
In his bail application, which was rejected by the court, Chaudhary had stated that Panchkula Police had not corroborated evidence against him and whole case was based on suspicion.
Jyoti (24), a Dalit girl of Bhunga village of Hoshiarpur who worked as an assistant of Chaudhary, was found dead on a road in Sector 21, Panchkula, on November 22, 2012, with her head smashed.
Elected from the Doon Assembly seat Chaudhary, general secretary of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, went missing since his name figured in the murder of Jyoti, but later surrendered before the court and was remanded to judicial custody. He is the son of four-time Congress MLA, Lajja Ram.
Earlier the victim's father Butti Ram, had filed a complaint with Haryana Police alleging that Chaudhary had close links with his daughter and could be involved in the murder.
