CBI chargesheets BJP MLA Sengar

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case on Wednesday.

Sengar and his associate Sashi Singh have been charged with rape (section 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), criminal conspiracy (IPC Section 120B), kidnapping (IPC sections 363 and 366), criminal intimidation (IPC section 506).

 CBI officials said during the three-month-long probe, the investigators found that the allegations levelled by the minor girl were tenable, prompting the agency to file the charge sheet against Sengar. The charge sheet was filed before Special CBI court in Lucknow.

Sengar, a four-time MLA who represents Bangermau in UP legislative assembly, was arrested on April 13. He is lodged in Sitapur jail.  Faced with embarrassment, the BJP government in the state had recommended a CBI probe in April this year.

The CBI found that the minor girl was raped at the residence of the MLA on June 4, 2017 at 8 PM where she was taken by Sashi Singh. “The agency has alleged that the girl was again gang raped by a different set of accused between June 11 and June 20, 2017 which is also being probed by the CBI”, the CBI officials said.

“The agency’s probe depended heavily on the “consistent” statements of the victim who stuck to her charges even before a magistrate where her statement was recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC, they said. The officials said local police had not registered an FIR related to the alleged rape by the MLA which took place on June 4. “They had only registered an FIR related to the gang rape”, CBI officials said.

The officials said the state police did not probe allegations against Sengar for the rape that allegedly took place on June 4, 2017, but had filed an FIR related to gang rape that took place nearly a week later in captivity. The police registered an FIR only on April 12, 2018, the day it was to be handed over to the CBI. The sources said the agency found in the probe that the version given by the MLA allegedly did not match with the corroborative evidence. They said claims of his location on the day of incident did not match with the records of his mobile phone and other corroborative evidence and failed to provide a legally tenable alibi for himself for the day when the incident allegedly took place.

The sources said it was a difficult case to crack as the crime took place at the residence of the accused nearly a year ago which was followed by another gang rape, making it difficult to gather forensic evidence from medical examination and crime scene.

“The role of doctors, police and officials of district administration is still under probe”, CBI  said.

Lack of any police probe in the incident allegedly involving the ruling party MLA made the case even more difficult as normally the CBI uses evidence initially collected by local police and subjects them to its own scrutiny, they said.

The victim had alleged that she was raped by the MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao at his residence on June 4, 2017 where she had gone with a relative seeking a job.

 A purported video of the girl’s father before his death had gone viral in which he had alleged that he was mercilessly beaten up, including with rifle butts, by the MLA’s brother and others in the presence of police.

On Saturday, the investigating agency filed chargesheet against five persons in the death case of the Unnao rape victim’s father. The chargesheet was filed against Atul Singh Sengar, a brother of the BJP MLA, and his accomplices Vineet Mishra alias Vinay Mishra; Birendra Singh alias Bauwa, Ram Sharan Singh alias Sonu Singh and Shashi Pratap Singh alias Suman Singh, all residents of Makhi village in Unnao District.