Unnao gang-rape case: CBI confirms rape allegations against Sengar, local police role under scanner

NEW DELHI: In a big development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday confirmed the rape allegations against Bangarmau BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case.

Confirming the charge, the probing agency said that Sengar's accomplice Shashi Singh had lured the victim - who was a minor at the time - to Sengar's residence on the pretext of a job last year.

On June 4, 2017, the victim along with Shashi Singh had approached Sengar at his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Makhi village, where the incident took place. Singh, who was later held by police, stood guard outside the room as Sengar and his associates proceeded to gang-rape the woman.

On June 11, the victim was again abducted by three youth. She was repeatedly gang-raped and kept inside an SUV over a period of eight to nine days.

The CBI is also probing the role of local police which reportedly delayed the victim's medical examination under influence of the Bangarmau BJP MLA, a fact also highlighted by the court.

In April, the Allahabad High Court came down heavily on UP police for its inaction against the BJP legislator who was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

"The disturbing feature of the case is that the law and order machinery and the government officials were directly in league and under the influence of Kuldeep Singh," a bench of Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Sunit Kumar had said.

The authorities had allegedly refused to register the victim's complaint.

The Unnao incident came to light after the victim and her family tried to set themselves ablaze outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home. A day later, the victim's father who was held by cops passed away, with report postmortem pointing at internal injuries.

After a 17-hour interrogation, and after facing flak from the court, Sengar was finally arrested by the CBI on April 13. Later, his 'Y' security was removed. 

The victim has named several persons in her complaint.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. 

Three FIRs have been filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the case. The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it does not reflect in the CBI FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

With agencies input