A Youth Akali Dal leader from Ludhiana has been arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl repeatedly, Mohali police said on Sunday. Identified as Jaskaranjit Singh Deol, the accused is a core committee member of the Youth Akali Dal in Ludhiana, said Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, district (Ludhiana) president of the Shiromani Akali Dal.The accused is arrested and further investigation is ongoing. (HT File)The victim’s father stated in his complaint to the Mataur police station that the accused came in contact with the family in 2023 and later developed a relationship with his wife, following which she left him and began living with the accused in Sector 70, Mohali.He stated that the first sexual assault took place on October 25-26, 2024, when the accused, while bringing the girl from her boarding school in Dehradun, took her to a hotel in Mohali where he tried to establish physical relations with her and touched her inappropriately, the FIR stated. The girl alleged that he threatened to evict her and her mother if she disclosed the incident. He also managed her into silence by stating that her mother was pregnant and that stress could cause a miscarriage, the complainant stated. Such sexual assaults took place several times, the FIR mentioned.On May 8, the girl narrated her ordeal to her mother who confronted him but the accused flew into a rage and thrashed the girl. He also forced the victim to sign sheets of paper. The FIR further mentioned that next morning, Deol locked himself inside the minor’s room and thrashed her again. When the girl threatened to commit suicide by jumping from the balcony, Deol allegedly threatened to drown her in the Sirhind Canal or hire Canada-based gangsters to execute her within 24 hours if she exposed him.Later, she went to her father’s house and informed him about the assault.Inspector Rupinder Singh, SHO of Mataur police station, said the accused was arrested and further investigation was ongoing. Sections 64 (rape), 65(1) (rape of minor) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, have been slapped.