Brother shot at cop in ’04, trial yet to begin as case diary missing
UNNAO: Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is accused of raping a teenager, is an influential politician with tremendous hold over Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao. However, this is not the first time he has landed in a controversy.
There is another 14-year-old case against his younger brother Atul Sengar which the authorities have not acted in.
Atul had allegedly shot the then additional superintendent of police Ramlal Verma near Ganga Ghat during an encounter with a group of criminals trying to flee. He was named, booked, arrested but granted bail in the case and the trial hasn’t even begun .
The reason? “Because the case diary went missing and hence could not reach the court,” testifies Verma, who is now an IPS officer and attached with the homeguard headquarters in Lucknow.
Interestingly, it took an RTI plea for an officer such as Verma to get the status of his case.
“I haven’t receive a single summon from the court to give testimony till date,” he said, adding, “I personally checked the status of my case with the officers posted in the district; they were clueless. Then I filed an application under RTI in May 2014,” he said.
Atul, who has been arrested for allegedly attacking the rape survivor’s father on April 3, wasn’t available for comment.
The case dates back to 2004 and Verma was posted as additional SP. It was the Samajwadi Party government and Kuldeep had become the first time MLA from the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party.
The then station officer of Ganga Ghat, Shiv Badan, had an encounter with armed criminals near Ganga riverbed during patrolling.
Verma had joined in as part of the reinforcement team as the police team was outnumbered by criminals. While the criminals were being bundled into the police jeep, a bullet hit Verma on his leg.
The FIR (number 326/2004) named Atul and four others for the crime. Since the case involved a senior police officer, the MLA and his brother were arrested and sent to jail with others — all of them got bail.
“I was surprised as to why the case hasn’t come on trial; I never find an answer whenever I tried to gather information,” he said.
Unnao police, under the then SP Unnao Ratan Srivastava, admitted that trial could not begin as the case diary had gone missing.
Srivastava, who has retired as deputy inspector general of police, said the case diary could not be located till his transfer from the district.
“Without it the fate of the case will hang in balance,” said Verma, adding that, legally, the onus for trial lies with the government.
On Tuesday, Atul was arrested for the murder of the rape victim’s father who was badly beaten up first in his village, then the police station and finally inside the jail. He died on April 9 within hours after he was shifted to Unnao district hospital from the jail.
A case had been registered against Atul under various IPC sections, including 302 (murder).
LEGAL EXPERTS SLAM POLICE FOR DELAY IN ARREST
NEW DELHI: The decision of the Uttar Pradesh police to not arrest Kuldeep Singh Sengar even after booking him for rape is “bad in law”, say legal experts, suggesting that the police were “clearly” favouring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator in the case.
Police booked Sengar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, on Thursday for allegedly raping a teenaged girl last year. The POCSO Act provides for immediate arrest of the accused.
The state police did not arrest him saying they have referred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who will take a call to arrest him or not.
Uttar Pradesh’s principal secretary (home) Arvind Kumar said the central agency will investigate the case and decide on arresting the MLA, whom he repeatedly referred as “manania (respectful)” during a press conference on Thursday.
Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover said not arresting Sengar was a “breach of law”.