New Delhi: BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday evening.
The arrest comes hours after Allahabad High Court ordered the agency to "arrest, not detain" the BJP MLA.
The court directed the CBI to carry out investigation strictly in accordance with law and to consider filing an application for cancellation of bail granted to other accused in the case.
The court said that it will monitor the probe and asked the authorities to submit a progress report in the matter by May 2.
The bench passed the order on a letter written by senior advocate Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi demanding a court-monitored investigation of the incident and treated it as a PIL.
The MLA was taken into custody by CBI from his Lucknow residence in the early hours of Friday.
Taking a strong objection to the UP government's submission that Sengar would not be arrested on mere registration of the FIR, the court said this approach is "not only appalling but shocks the conscience of the court in the backdrop of the instant case."
Faced with the embarrassment of its own MLA being involved in the case, the state government had referred the matter to the Centre yesterday for CBI probe -- a day before Allahabad High Court was to pronounce its order.
Sengar, a four-term MLA, enjoys immense clout cutting across party lines in the rural areas around Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow.
As the Opposition upped the ante accusing the ruling BJP of shielding perpetrators of heinous crimes against women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that no criminal will be spared and justice will be done to daughters of the nation.
At an event to inaugurate the B R Ambedkar memorial in the national capital, Modi said, "I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice" -- an apparent reference to rape cases in Unnao and Kathua (Jammu & Kashmir)."
Facing flak over the delay in taking action against his MLA in the nearly year-old rape case, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his government will not deviate from its zero-tolerance policy on crime and that it would firmly deal with criminals, no matter how influential they might be.
The decision to hand over the twin cases, of the alleged rape of the woman and the custodial death of her father, was taken after the Special Investigation Team constituted under Additional Director General of Police (Lucknow zone) to look into the matter submitted its report to the government.
In another development, Medical Superintendent and Casualty officer at Unnao District Hospital were suspended and a departmental inquiry was initiated against three other doctors.
Comments
0 comment