The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has confirmed the rape charges on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Senger who faced national outrage for allegedly raping a minor girl at his Unnao residence on the pretext of giving her a job.
Following the incident, which took place in June last year, the girl was abducted from her residence and gang-raped. The investigating agency also noted that the UP police had not carried out a proper investigation.
CBI has confirmed that when the girl went to the police, they did not file the FIR initially, and, when they eventually did, they kept the names of MLAs and some other accused out of it, a Times of India report said.
The CBI added that the police delayed her examination and also did not send vaginal swab on her clothes to the forensics laboratory. “This was all deliberate and in connivance with the accused persons,” an agency source told TOI.
On Friday the survivor told ANI, “I demand death penalty for BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for raping me and for the murder of my father.”
Her uncle said, “We demand protection for our family so that we can give our statement before the court fearlessly. We demand death penalty for Kuldeep Sengar.”
The girl, who was then 17 years of age, was allegedly taken to Sengar by his female accomplice, Shashi Singh, on the pretext of getting her a job. She was guarding the door when the girl was inside with Sengar. Shashi Singh was arrested by the CBI on April 14.
Threatened, the girl did not say anything until June 10 last year. “On June 11, she was abducted by three persons — Shubham Singh, Awadh Narayan and Brijesh Yadav. From June 11-19, the girl was kept mostly in an SUV and repeatedly gang-raped by these three while on the move,” an agency source told TOI.
On June 20, the girl went to file an FIR but the Makhi (Unnao) local police kept the names of the MLA and some other accused out of the FIR. In August, a charge-sheet was filed in which the police only named Shubham Singh, Shashi’s son, Awadh Narayan and Brijesh Yadav.
“So, the UP police were right in claiming that the names of the MLA and Shashi Singh were not there in the FIR filed by the girl on June 20. But what it did not disclose was that the survivor’s complaint was diluted by them,” the CBI source said.
The CBI has recorded the girl’s statement before the magistrate under CrPC Section 164, where she “stood by” the allegations. This statement is admissible in court as evidence.
CBI is now questioning Sengar, Shashi Singh and the other accused further and tying up the loose ends on police’s involvement in saving the MLA.
There was also a delay in arresting the MLA. He was arrested only after the Allahabad High Court directed the CBI to arrest him.
The alleged rape of the Unnao girl gave rise to many questions on Uttar Pradesh’s law and order situation. The girl and her family attempted to immolate themselves in front of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office on April 8, after her letters to the chief minister to investigate the case went unanswered for almost a year. The case came to everyone’s notice after her immolation attempt. On April 9, however, the police arrested her father for allegedly getting into a fight with Sengar’s brother. He died in judicial custody, the girl had alleged that Sengar’s brother and his aides murdered her father.