Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], August 6 (HBTV): Vikas Barala, son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala, has been appointed as Assistant Advocate General (AG) in Haryana, despite facing trial in the 2017 Varnika Kundu stalking case.

Barala’s appointment was part of a broader announcement that included over 80 appointments to the posts of Deputy AG, Additional AG, and Assistant AG.

Vikas Barala has been accused of stalking and attempting to kidnap Varnika Kundu, the daughter of a senior IAS officer, in Chandigarh in 2017. He was granted bail on January 11, 2018. The trial remains inconclusive, and reports indicate the next hearing was scheduled for August 2.

Subhash Barala, Vikas’s father, has been a Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana since 2024 and served as the Haryana BJP president from 2014 to 2020.

The incident occurred on August 4, 2017, when Varnika Kundu accused Vikas Barala and his friend of following her car late at night in Chandigarh. The two were initially arrested based on her complaint but released on bail, as the charges at that time fell under bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.

They were re-arrested on August 9, 2017, under sections 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 511 (attempt to commit a punishable offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

On October 13, 2017, a Chandigarh court framed charges against Vikas Barala for stalking and attempted kidnapping. In January 2018, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.

After his release, Vikas Barala claimed innocence, stating: ‘When you know you are innocent, and have not done anything wrong, you do not fear anything. My unflinching faith in God and concern for my family's honour saw me through the five months I spent in custody.’

(ANI)