Three more aides of Prajapati held; two sons, kin quizzed

Tightening the noose around rape-accused UP minister Gayatri Prajapati, Lucknow Police today nabbed three more accomplices of the SP leader and is interrogating his two sons and nephew to get clues about his whereabouts.

The arrests were made in Hazratganj area in central Lucknow, IG (Lucknow) A Satish Ganesh told PTI. With this, all the six persons named in the FIR against the 49-year-old SP leader have been picked up. Gayatri, however, continues to evade the police dragnet.

"Both UP Police and Special Task Force of the UP police are on the job and he will be nabbed soon," ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said. Police are interrogating his two sons and nephew to get some inputs regarding his whereabouts, Senior Superintendent of Police (Lucknow) Manzil Saini said.

She said the UP police plans to attach two properties of the minister in Lucknow and one in Amethi, his assembly constituency, to force him to surrender. Earlier, Prajapati's two aides were arrested from Noida near Jewar on the Yamuna Expressway on March 7.

The minister's security guard Chandrapal was arrested on March 6 near Lucknow Police lines. Prajapati was booked on a Supreme Court directive and a FIR was lodged on February 17 against the minister and six others for allegedly gangraping a woman and alleged attempt to rape her minor daughter.

The apex court had asked the UP Police to submit a report regarding the incidents in eight weeks. A Look Out notice has already been issued against him as also a Non-Bailable Warrant. His passport has also been impounded.

Airports across the country have been alerted to the possibility of Prajapati trying to flee the country. In the just-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapati lost to BJP from Amethi, the seat he held.