FIR filed against BJP MLA in Unnao gangrape case, case to be handed to CBI

Lucknow: Police in Uttar Pradesh today registered an FIR against ruling BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in connection with the alleged gangrape of a minor girl in Unnao, hours after the government said it would hand over investigation into the case to the CBI.

Till the premier investigating agency takes over, the local police will continue with the probe, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said. The letter for handing over the probe to the CBI for maintaining total transparency in the case will be sent today, he told reporters.

The decision on whether to arrest the accused MLA will be taken by the CBI on the merits of the case after investigations, he said. The Unnao police this morning registered the case against Sengar under various sections of IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the Makhi police station area. The FIR has been registered under sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage,), 363 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

“An FIR be lodged under appropriate sections considering the allegations of rape levied on MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and others and the investigation be handed over to CBI,” the Principal Secretary (Information) said in an statement late last night.

Addressing a press conference, the principal secretary home and state Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh said the MLA had not been named in the FIR till now as the girl had not mentioned his name in the statement given before the magistrate earlier.

The case was registered now that she and her family had told the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which visited them yesterday, that they had not done so because of fear, they said. Refusing allegations that police was trying to shield the MLA, the officials said it was because of this that the probe was being handed over to the CBI. Besides, the government has also decided to extend security to the family of the 17-year-old girl, they said.

The officials assured that no one found guilty will be spared and added that action has already been taken against some policemen and doctors for laxity and negligence. The teen rape survivor, who had tried to immolate herself outside the chief minister’s house just a day before her 50-year-old father died on Monday, has alleged that she was confined to a hotel room by the district administration, leaving her “without a phone or water and guards at every corner”.