NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is the main accused in the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, has been sent to seven-day CBI custody.

The central investigating agency arrested Shashi Singh, who is named in the CBI FIR as an accomplice of Sengar in the rape case. According to the FIR, Singh had allegedly taken the girl to the MLA’s residence.

“We support fair investigation. He has been sent to 7-day CBI custody,” said Sengar’s lawyer.

On Friday, Sengar was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after a day-long interrogation.

Sengar, an MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao district, was picked up by a team of the CBI in the wee hours of Friday from his residence in Indiranagar from where he was driven to the zonal office of the CBI and interrogated for several hours.

Earlier, the Allahabad high court had directed the CBI to arrest Sengar saying the law and order machinery and officials were directly under his influence.

The victim has alleged that she was raped by the MLA at his residence on June 4, 2017, where she had gone with a relative seeking a job.

In February, the girl’s family moved court seeking to include the MLA’s name in the rape case. After this move, the victim’s father was booked by the police under the arms act on April 3 this year and put in jail on April 5.

Alleging inaction and coercion from powerful people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of the CM’s house on April 8 and the next day, her father died in jail with post-mortem report suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Faced with the embarrassment of its own MLA being involved in the case, the state government had referred the matter to the Centre for CBI probe.

—By arrangement with The Times of India

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018