Sengar arrested after 16-hour CBI grilling

LUCKNOW/ALLAHABAD : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar was arrested late Friday night after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials grilled him for over 16 hours in Lucknow and the Allahabad high court directed the agency to arrest the politician accused of raping a teenager in Unnao last year.

Sengar is likely to be produced in court on Saturday for custody remand, a CBI official said.

The official said the MLA was picked up from a house in Lucknow’s Indira Nagar area and taken to the agency’s office in Hazratganj around 4 am.

Also, six policemen, including station officer (SO), Makhi, Ashok Bhadauria, sub inspector KP Singh and four constables, were detained and brought to Lucknow by CBI sleuths on Friday morning. These policemen were suspended after the Unnao rape victim’s father died on April 9. CBI sources said Sengar refused to recognize the policemen and said he had never met them. The CBI team also questioned him about the role of his brother Atul Sengar in the death of rape victim’s father and his role in terrorising the victim’s family. When Sengar continued to evade the queries, the CBI officers decided to arrest him at 9.30 pm. A CBI team has already landed in Unnao to collect evidence against Sengar.

The CBI team also questioned the victim and her family members. The victim will be brought to Lucknow on Saturday for medical examination, sources said.

According to the CBI official, the agency had lodged three separate FIRs in connection with the Unnao incidents.

“The first FIR is related to allegations of rape against the MLA and a woman associate, the second is of the June 2017 event in which the teenager’s family accused four people of kidnapping and raping her,” he said.

The third case is related to the alleged attack on the teenager’s father on April 3 in which one of the MLA’s relatives had accused the 55-year-old man of voluntarily causing hurt after a brawl.

The father was wounded and died on April 9 during treatment while in judicial custody.

The CBI swung into action on Thursday after the state government’s recommended a federal probe. “Arrest of the accused is necessarily required to safeguard the majesty of law and the dignity of the prosecutrix,” the court said. A bench of Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar directed the CBI investigating officer to arrest Sengar. The court will monitor the investigation and asked the CBI to file a status report on May 2, which is the next date of hearing.