BJP MLA charged for Unnao rape
CBI files charge sheet against legislator Kuldeep Sengar, his aide for alleged rape, intimidation
FATHER OF THE MINOR RAPE SURVIVOR HAD DIED IN APRIL AFTER HE WAS ALLEGEDLY ATTACKED BY MLA’S BROTHER AND AIDES
LUCKNOW: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his aide Shashi Singh in connection with the suspected kidnapping and rape of a teenage girl at his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in June last year.
The investigating officer filed the charge sheet before a special CBI court in Lucknow against Sengar and Singh for alleged rape, criminal intimidation, hatching a conspiracy and kidnapping of a minor girl to compel her into marriage, a senior CBI officer said on condition of anonymity.
He said the member of the legislative assembly (MLA) was also charged under sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Both Sengar and Shashi have been in judicial custody since April 13.
The rape survivor has claimed that Singh took her to Sengar’s house on the pretext of facilitating a job for her in June 2017. She alleged that the MLA raped her at his house while Singh stayed outside.
She said the police later lodged a first information report (FIR) of rape and kidnapping against four people, including Singh’s son, Shubham, but did not include the names of Singh and Sengar.
On April 12, the CBI registered a case against Sengar and Singh under sections 376 (rape), 363 and 366 (kidnapping minor girl to compel her into marriage) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
On Saturday, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against five people in the custodial death case of the Unnao rape survivor’s father.
While Sengar’s brother Atul Singh Sengar is among the five people who have been charge sheeted, CBI officials said the investigation into the role of the MLA and police officials were still on.
So far, 10 people, including the BJP MLA, his brother and two policemen of Makhi station have been arrested by the CBI in four different cases registered in the matter.
All the accused in the case are in judicial custody.
The case hit the headlines after the death of the rape survivor’s father on April 9, 2018, after he was allegedly attacked by the MLA’s brother and his aides on April 3. He had returned to his village Makhi in Unnao after attending court proceedings related to a case filed for registration of an FIR against the BJP MLA in the rape case.
The girl’s father had suffered grievous injuries, but the Makhi police registered a case against him for allegedly possessing a firearm and sent him to jail.
His condition later deteriorated inside the district jail and he succumbed to injuries during treatment at Unnao district hospital on April 9.