Rape case father: ‘I had year of hell,’ (From Swindon Advertiser)

Rape case father: ‘I had year of hell,’

12:30pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News

A MAN who was accused of raping a woman and turning her into a prostitute has said he has been put through hell after the charges were dropped a year after he was arrested.

Kaldip Bansal faced the allegations for almost a year until last week at Swindon Crown Court the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew the charges, citing undisclosed new evidence which meant they could no longer proceed with the case.

The 44-year-old was first alleged to have raped the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on Sunday December 6, 2009 . Then almost a year later, in October 2010, it was claimed he again raped her and during the same period made her become a prostitute for gain for himself.

In August 2011 he was said to have assaulted her, and then on Thursday, February 3, last year he was accused of trying to bribe a witness.

But Kaldip, of Bodiam Drive, Toothill, always denied the charges against him and is now determined to clear his name.

The self-employed electrical engineer said: “It has been a nightmare for me and my family. My four children and my wife deserve credit for sticking by me but I felt no one else was listening.

“The police arrested me about a year ago and took me to the police station for questioning and time after time kept asking me the same questions.

“I went into depression, I stopped eating and my business was affected.

“I have been in Swindon for 46 years and have a well established business but people stopped inviting us to functions and events and did not want to be associated with me.

“it was just a horrible experience and I would not want anyone to go through that.”

He said he was the victim of a set-up by a former tenant of his and her boyfriend, whom Kaldip would not identify, after a falling out with his family.

“The woman had been my tenant since 2009 and was a close friend of the family,” he said.

“But there were some problems after she became involved with my sister’s boyfriend.

“They met when her car broke down and he went to help.

“She also had phone records where she could see he had been calling her and then we went round to her home where she caught him in her bedroom with just his boxers on.

“I served an eviction notice on her in January last year and then just six days later the police knocked on my door with these allegations – five counts, including two of rape.

“To hear they had been dropped was a great feeling – I knew the truth but there is still that doubt that you don’t know what could happen in court.

“I just feel it was a set-up and they wanted to ruin my name.

“I have to thank Rob Ross, my solicitor, too, he was great.”

Kaldip’s daughter Sharan-Jeet Bansal, 22, said she had been shocked when the police knocked on the door but she never doubted her father’s innocence.

She said: “I was at home when they came to arrest him and me and my mum were both shocked.

“It was really worrying but I never had any doubts about it - I’ve lived with him for 22 years and I know he wouldn’t do something like that.”

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We offered no evidence in the case of Kaldip Bansal.”

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “The Crown Prosecution reviewed this case and decided it did not meet their threshold for having sufficient evidence to proceed to court.”