Top court refuses to stay Prajapati’s arrest in rape case

Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati, accused in a rape case and allegedly evading arrest, did not get any relief from the Supreme Court that refused to give any order restraining the police from arresting him.

A bench headed by Justice AK Sikri expressed unhappiness that its order on lodging a case against the Samajwadi Party leader was being given a “political colour.”

“Our order just directed the police to register a case and investigate. We have not said anything more than that. If you have remedy under the law, you can avail it,” the bench told Prajapati’s counsel who insisted the court to clarify that it wasn’t monitoring the investigation. They demanded the court to issue an order staying his arrest.

After a weeklong chase, Prajapati’s aide, who is also accused in the gang rape case, landed in police custody in Lucknow on Monday.

Inspector General (IG) of Police, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said head constable Chanderpal, who was deployed as security for the minister, was arrested from Alambagh area. He said police also recovered his service revolver that he had taken along while on the run.

Sources however said Chanderpal was taken in custody when he turned up to deposit his service revolver at Reserve Police Lines of Lucknow and was later taken to Alambagh for further legal proceedings.