Unnao rape case: CBI confirms charges against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough in the politically sensitive Unnao rape case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday confirmed the survivor’s charge that BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar raped her at his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Makhi village on June 4, 2017 while his female accomplice, Shashi Singh, stood guard outside the room.

Confirming the charge, the central probe agency said that Shashi Singh had lured the victim - who was a minor at the time - to Sengar's residence on the pretext of a job last year.

Citing sources, The Times of India (TOI) report said while the survivor had consistently named Sengar, MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Bangarmau, among those who violated her, local police kept the MLA and some other accused out of the FIR filed on June 20 as well as the chargesheet filed later.

The central agency has recorded the survivor’s statement before a magistrate under CrPC Section 164, in which she “stood by” the allegations. Statements recorded under CrPC Section 164 are admissible in court as evidence.

Quoting a CBI officer, TOI said the 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.

Sengar, Shashi Singh and the other accused, who were arrested by the CBI on April 13-14, were questioned at length and the agency is tying up the loose ends related to the police’s involvement in saving the MLA.

The Uttar Pradesh government had handed over the case to the CBI following uproar over the alleged effort by the Unnao police to shield the BJP MLA.

Describing the sequence of events in 2017, as established by the CBI based on the survivor’s statement and independent investigation, an agency source told TOI, "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 till 19, the girl was kept mostly in an SUV and repeatedly gang-raped by these three while on the move.”

When the girl was finally found on June 20, some officers at the local police station in Makhi (Unnao) were "reluctant" to register an FIR. When they eventually registered one, they left out Sengar, Shashi Singh and a few others from it.

Again, when a chargesheet was filed in August, the police named only the three men — Shubham, who is Shashi Singh’s son, Awadh and Brijesh.

"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 UP police," TOI quoted CBI source saying.

The Uttar Pradesh police swept into action only recently, when state DGP O P Singh ordered the suspension of the deputy superintendent of police, the local SHO and four constables. The CBI is investigating the role of the DSP, SHO and others at the police station.