Monday, June 11, 2012

British Sikh jailed for sex attack was guest at Royal Barge with Queen

Courtesy Herald Sun -- London: Harbinder Singh Rana, 52, was jailed in the 1980s for a series of attacks on women, who believed he was a doctor, in which he performed internal examinations and administered injections.

Rana served four years for his crimes but has since reinvented himself as a pillar of the community.

And in an astonishing error of judgment the charity director was allowed to mingle with VIPs on the Royal Barge during Sunday’s River Pageant.

During the afternoon sail, Rana came into close contact with every senior royal including Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Rana was at times during the 1000 boat extravaganza only metres from the Queen herself.

The former management consultant was invited to join the exclusive celebrations by Prince Charles in his capacity as community leader.

He is understood to have met the prince through his charity work for the Anglo-Sikh heritage trail, a group that promotes Sikh culture in Britain.

But palace sources last night said the prince was completely unaware of the charity director’s shameful past and would never have invited him had he known.

Approached yesterday Rana said that he did not know if he had been vetted and had not been asked about his crimes before the event.

He told Britain's Mirror newspaper: "I was given the invitation and I attended.

"The fact that the Prince of Wales invited me clearly shows what I have done for the community since then."

He added: "I have a relationship with some of Charles’s staff, not him – although I have met him at events, yes.

"I have made it clear I wasn’t representing the Sikh community, I was there because I was very happy to be invited."

He said that, although the Queen was at times just "a few feet" from him, he never spoke to her or any senior member of the Royal Family while on the boat.

The revelation will raise questions about why apparently no checks were carried out on Mr Rana's background before he was allowed to be photographed within inches of senior royals.

The error brings into sharp focus the vetting procedures in place to protect the Royal Family.

Questions will now be raised about why apparently no checks were carried out on his background before he was allowed to be photographed within inches of senior royals.

And an investigation into how such an unsuitable guest sailed through the vetting process will likely soon be under way.

 

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