Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC and Sections 5(c) & 6 of the POCSO Act April 14, 2018. (Reuters Photo: Pawan Kumar)The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to the Uttar Pradesh government, recommending appropriate action against a former Unnao district magistrate, and three police officers for allegedly failing to register an FIR in 2017 following a complaint of rape against former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
Though the letter was sent in the second week of August, no reply has been received yet, according to a CBI official.
The rape occurred in June 2017, but the police lodged an FIR only on April 12, 2018, four days after the complainant attempted suicide near the Chief Minister’s residence in Lucknow.
Last year, a court in Delhi sentenced Sengar to life in prison.
Apart from then District Magistrate Aditi Singh, and Superintendents of Police (SPs) Pushpanjali Devi and Neha Pandey, the central agency has also recommended action against then Additional SP Ashtabhuja Prasad Singh.
Aditi Singh, a 2009-batch IAS officer, is the District Magistrate of Hapur at present.
Pushpanjali Devi, a 2006-batch IPS officer, was posted as DIG (Railways) on Tuesday, and Neha Pandey, a 2009-batch IPS officer, is on central deputation in the Intelligence Bureau. Devi was posted to Unnao after Pandey was shunted out in October 2017.
Ashtabhuja Prasad Singh, who has since been promoted to the IPS cadre, is the current commandant of 12 Battalion of the Provincial Armed Constabulary in Fatehpur.
“We have sent a letter to the state government recommending appropriate action against four officials for not filing the complaint of the victim and her family when they approached them. The letter was sent in the second week of August. We have, so far, not received any reply from the UP government,” said the CBI official.
Sources said the CBI had sent a letter to the state administration in February, but without disclosing the officials’ names. In response, the government sought to know the names. The CBI complied with the request, and wrote back to the government last month.