Unnao case: CBI quizzes MLA, girl’s family

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday interrogated BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his aides along with the victim and her family during its probe into the Unnao rape case on Thursday.

The CBI was given seven-day custody of Kuldeep on Saturday while his brother and his aides were sent to four-day custody on Wednesday.

The teenage rape victim has accused the legislator of raping her at his house on June 4 last year. The girl’s family has also accused the MLA’s brother Atul Singh Sengar and his aides of attacking the rape victim’s father on April 3.

The girl’s father was sent to jail allegedly in a fake case where his condition deteriorated and he died on April 9.

A senior CBI officer privy to the investigation said Kuldeep, his brother Atul and their aides were questioned along with the girl and her family members for hours at CBI’s regional office in Lucknow.

“The girl and her family members were brought to Lucknow in the morning. They were asked some questions related to the proximity between the families of the MLA and the victim before June, 2017, and the reasons for the enmity between them,” he said.

The officer said the probe focused on ascertaining the location of the MLA at the time of the alleged rape and the location of his brother when the girl’s father was attacked.

He said the investigators were trying to find out if the girl visited the MLA’s house prior to the alleged raped.

The CBI is trying to establish if Kuldeep’s accomplice Shashi Singh, who allegedly took the girl to his house on June 4 last year, was known to the girl.

“The CBI is confirming if the girl was familiar to Shashi’s son Shubham Singh and his friend Awadhesh Awasthi, whom she has accused of kidnapping and rape,” the officer said.

The CBI team has procured some telephone recordings which are being mentioned before the accused and the victim and her family, he said.

The officer said the CBI team was also focusing on why and how the MLA tried to influence the cases registered by the girl and her family after June 2017.

“The agency is ascertaining if the girl’s father was attacked at Kuldeep’s behest and if the police sent him to jail under the legislator’s influence,” he said.

Meanwhile, the CBI has sent co-accused Shashi Singh to jail after her custody ended on Thursday. During her custody, she was questioned about her links with the MLA and the rape victim, a CBI officer said.