A day after Uttarakhand police registered an FIR over state women and child development minister Rekha Arya’s allegations that her husband Girdhari Lal Sahu conspired to murder her, subjected her to repeated caste-based harassment and forging her signatures, police said on Friday that they were probing the matter.
Sahu, meanwhile, accused Arya of habitual corruption and administrative indifference towards her constituency (Someshwar in Almora district), and dismissed the allegations against him.
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Dehradun city SP Shekhar Chand Suyal said a deputy SP-rank officer will handle the probe. “We have also received evidence along with the complaint and the required action will be taken promptly,” he said.
Arya, Sahu accuse each other
In her complaint, Arya alleged that Sahu had concealed his earlier marriage from her and had relationships with other women. She also alleged that Sahu and another woman were plotting to kill her and that he forged her signatures to remove her from certain positions without her consent. She posted a video statement on Facebook and also shared two audio clips of purported phone calls between Sahu and a woman. HT could not independently verify the clips.
The alleged offences took place between July 6, 2004 and October 15, 2026. The FIR charges Sahu with forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy, bigamy, cruelty by a husband, and criminal intimidation under relevant sections of IPC and the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Meanwhile, Sahu on Friday alleged that he had flagged corruption in Arya’s departments for over 10 years and claimed that the clips she shared were AI-generated. “I told her many times that corruption was taking place in her departments and that so much money was not required. She never listened to me. I even had arguments with her over this….” he claimed in video statements on Facebook.
Sahu, who is from Bareilly in UP, also appealed to CM Pushkar Singh Dhami for justice, alleging he had complained to him about Arya’s alleged corruption and claiming he possessed evidence against her. He also alleged that Arya amassed illegal assets worth ₹210 crore.
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Arya didn’t respond to HT’s requests for comment till the time of going to print.
