CBI files FIR against Shashi Singh’s son in Unnao rape case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered fourth case in connection with the Unnao rape case. The case was filed against Shubham Singh, son of Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly lured the victim to the main accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime. Shubham Singh has been included as an accused, ANI reported.

On Sunday, Shashi Singh, who is believed to be a close aide of BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, was sent to 4-day police custody.

In her complaint to UP Police, now part of the CBI FIR, the victim's mother has alleged that Shashi Singh had lured her daughter and took her to Sengar's residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard.

The CBI is likely to take Sengar and Singh to Unnao for further investigation.

On Monday, the CBI recorded the statement of the victim in the Unnao rape case. The statement of the rape victim was recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC.

The CBI on Saturday got the victim undergo a medical examination at Lucknows Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, reportedly to determine her age

On August 17, 2002, the victims mother had recorded as her daughters date of birth in the FIR registered on April 11. A section of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was included in the FIR as a result. However, in a new set of developments in the Unnao gangrape case, the medical certificate dated June 22, 2017 of the survivor claims she was 19 years old when the alleged crime took place, hence challenging a key aspect of the case - that she was a minor.

Prime accused in the case, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sanger is booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act apart from IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction of woman), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation), this year-old medical certificate could alter the charges.

POCSO Act deals with sexual offences against persons below 18 years of age. The girl in question, reports said, was 17 when the alleged rape was committed.

Under the POCSO Act, the offence of rape is considered graver if committed by a police officer or a public servant and in this case, the accused is an MLA, a public servant by official definition.

In her complaint, the girl has alleged Kuldeep Singh Sengar of rape on June 4 last year. She also allegedly that she was abducted a week later and taken to the MLA's house in Unnao again where she was gangraped.