BJP MLA booked for rape, but no arrest so far

LUCKNOW: An FIR in the Unnao rape case was finally lodged on Thursday and BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was named as an accused. A woman acquaintance was named as a co-accused. The police, however, remained non-committal on the arrest of the two any time soon. Principal secretary (home) Arvind Kumar, too, remained non-committal on the possibilities of their arrest.
Highly placed sources said the state government sent an official communication early Thursday morning to the Centre recommending CBI probe for the rape case as well as the case of the survivor's father dying mysteriously in judicial custody. The sources said it is for the CBI now to take a decision on the arrests.

CBI took over the case by issuing a notification to this effect on Thursday evening. It will investigate three aspects of the case: the FIR lodged against the MLA under various sections of the IPC, including rape and the POCSO Act, besides the cross-FIRs lodged after the April 3 clash between the survivor's family and MLA's brother Atul and his associates.


MLA’s woman aide was partner in crime’

Joint director, CBI (Lucknow), GK Goswami, confirmed on Thursday evening that the cases were being registered in connection with he Unnao incident. Sources said a 20-member team led by an SP-rank officer will begin the probe from Friday morning.

After the special investigation team (SIT) headed by additional DG (Lucknow zone) Rajeev Krishna submitted its interim report late Wednesday evening, an FIR in the rape case was lodged on Thursday on the basis of a written complaint filed by the mother of the teenage rape survivor. In her complaint, she has accused Sengar’s woman acquaintance of taking her minor daughter away on some pretext after which she was raped by the MLA.

The mother alleges that the acquaintance was a partner in crime, saying that while the rape was committed, the accomplice sat outside the room. The complaint also states that the MLA threatened the survivor with dire consequence if she told anyone about the crime. As per the complaint, the crime was committed on June 4, 2017. The FIR was lodged under section 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping for purpose of marriage), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3/4 of the POCSO Act.

Meanwhile, DGP OP Singh kicked up a row while briefing the media when he referred to the MLA as “mananiya vidhayak” (respected MLA). But he was quick to clarify that in no way the guilty would be spared.