In a major development in the politically sensitive Unnao rape case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly confirmed rape charge against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. The CBI probe has corroborated the survivor’s charge that Kuldeep Singh Sengar raped her at his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Makhi village on June 4 last year while his female accomplice, Shashi Singh, stood guard outside the room.
The central agency is also reported to have found the local police at fault. According to the report, the police did not name Sengar and some other accused in the FIR, even as the survivor mentioned their involvement several times.
The police, a CBI officer said, also delayed the girl’s medical examination and didn’t send the vaginal swab or her clothes to the forensic laboratory. “This was all deliberate and in connivance with the accused persons,” he added.
“The girl was raped on June 4 by the MLA after she was brought to his house by Shashi Singh on the pretext of providing her a job. Between June 4 and June 10, the girl didn’t speak as she had been threatened. On June 11, she was abducted by three persons — Shubham Singh, Awadh Narayan and Brijesh Yadav. From June 11 to 19, the girl was kept mostly in an SUV and repeatedly gang-raped by these three while on the move,” a daily quoted a CBI source as describing the sequence of events established by the agency.
The case had led to a massive public outrage after the victim tried to set herself ablaze outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence on April 8, claiming police inaction in the case. Following the outrage, an FIR was lodged against Sengar. The Uttar Pradesh government later handed over the case to CBI.
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