Madhya Pradesh: Woman gang-raped, BJP man among accused, party sacks him

A 20-year-old woman was gang-raped allegedly by four persons, including a BJP functionary, in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, police said on Sunday.

The ruling party later in the evening issued a statement that the accused office-bearer had been removed from its primary membership.

She was abducted in a four-wheeler, forced to drink liquor in a farmhouse in Gadaghat area under Jaitpur police station limits and then gang-raped on February 18 and 19, said Shahdol Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mukesh Vaish.

“On February 20, the four accused dumped her in front of her house. She filed a police complaint on Sunday. The victim was first taken to Jaitpur health centre and then shifted to the district hospital for treatment,” he added.

Soon after news broke out that the name of BJP Jaitpur mandal chief Vijay Tripathi figured in the FIR as one of the accused, the BJP issued a release informing that he had been thrown out of the party.

Shahdol district BJP president Kamal Pratap Singh has sacked Vijay Tripathi from Jaitpur mandal president’s post, and primary membership of the party after his name figured in the gang-rape case, the release said.

“The BJP has no place for such workers involved in heinous crimes. The BJP strongly deplores such a character and crime. Thus, taking disciplinary action, it sacks Vijay Tripathi from the post of Jaitpur BJP president and membership,” the statement further read.

Efforts are underway to nab the four accused, said the Additional SP.