All you need to know about Sandeep Kumar: Ex- AAP minister who touched his wife’s feet everyday

Sandeep Kumar was one of AAP’s giant killers in the 2015 assembly elections, when he defeated five-times Congress legislator Jai Kishan from Sultanpur Majra in North Delhi by a whopping margin of 64,439 votes. A first-time legislator, he was the youngest minister in Kejriwal’s team and handed the SC/ST and Women and Child Welfare Ministry as a reward for his efforts to increasing the party's base at the grass-root levels and being a prominent Dalit face. 

He grew up in Sarangthal village in Haryana.Kumar graduated from Delhi University in 2004, and completed law from Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut in 2009. He was in the news for allegedly making a government school principal to put his wife’s name on a plaque at the building which got him pulled up by Kejriwal. He also reportedly disrupted a Delhi University class and asked professors to leave when campaigning for AAP’s student wing

On March 8, 2015 (International Women’s Day) he was in the news for saying that he touched his wife’s feet every morning, a statement that has taken a completely different connotation now. He met his wife Ritu at Delhi’s Dyal Singh College and courted her for eight years before they got married.

He claimed to have ‘ragged’ her when she was a fresher in the college and made her sing a song. A boxer and volleyball player in his college days, the match was opposed by Ritu’s family because while Ritu lived in the Defence Colony (one of Delhi’s most posh areas), Kumar’s father was a subedar.

He had told Indian Express in another statement that seems ironic now: “I never thought Ritu and I were different from each other. It was like getting married to myself. I had told her ‘Aishwarya Rai kyoon na aa jaye, shaadi to main aap hi se karunga (Aishwarya Rai may come, but I will get married to you alone)’.”

The couple lived in hardship in the early days and he claimed he touched his wife’s feet every day because she had been with him ‘through thick and thin’. 

The sex tape

Former Delhi Minister Sandeep Kumar, who was sacked over an "objectionable" CD, alleged that he was being targeted under a "conspiracy" as he was a dalit and demanded a probe into the issue.

"This is a conspiracy against me as I belong to Valmiki Samaj. There should be a probe into this matter. I am very hurt by watching the video on television. There is no authenticity of this CD. Authenticity should be checked," he told reporters at his residence.

Asked if he was the one featured in the CD, Kumar, who held the portfolios of Social Welfare and Women and Child Development, said that it is a matter of investigation and truth should come out.

"I am the only dalit face of the party. I have been popular among dalit community, that's why a conspiracy has been hatched against me. Other political parties are after us as we do not have a political background," he added.

In a sudden move, Kumar was sacked by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last night after receiving an 'objectionable' CD in which he was purportedly shown in a compromising position with a woman.

The decision to remove the 36-year-old minister was taken at a high-level meeting attended by top AAP leaders and the announcement was made by Kejriwal himself through a tweet.

Kumar, however, insisted that he had resigned on moral grounds.

"Someone is saying the video is two months old and others are saying it is three months old. There is no authentication Dalits have been exploited always. I belong to a poor family, so I know the facts are distorted. I have been framed because I am a Dalit," he said.

He also lashed out at the media.

"Without knowing my side, the media is showing things. My family is with me. I am not afraid of such controversies. I am a loyal person and can sacrifice anything for my community.

"It is the history of this country that whenever we have tried to rise, we have been suppressed. It is entirely a conspiracy against me and there should be an inquiry in it," he said.

"I have resigned on basis of morality. If media is trying to twist it then it is wrong. I was a soldier of AAP earlier and now also I won't let the party be defamed," he said. Kumar's news also attracted porn giant Pornhub's Twitter handle who tweeted: "We love all our employees including Sandeep Kumar." 

With agency inputs