Legal woes for BSP MP to increase after death of complainant, witness

VARANASI: Death of the woman complainant in a rape case against the jailed BSP MP

Atul Rai

at RML hospital in New Delhi on Tuesday, eight days after she set herself afire in front of the Supreme Court, has increased the problems for the accused.

“The possibility of conviction for the accused in the rape case following the death of the complainant and also the prime witness Suraj Rai (name changed), who, too, had set himself afire along with the complainant and died on August 21, has increased as both had given evidence before the MP-MLA court,” district government counsel (criminal) Prayagraj,

Gulab Chandra Agrahari

, told TOI on Tuesday.

The DGC (criminal), who is monitoring the prosecution part in the MP-MLA court in this case, also provided the current status of the case against the BSP MP from Ghosi, who is lodged in Naini jail.

He said, “Apart from the complainant and Suraj, the statement of other witnesses including former station officer of Varanasi’s Lanka police station

Bharat Bhushan Tiwari

, investigation officer and sub-inspector RC Pandey, head constable Raghav Rai, Dr Rashmi Gupta, constable Priti Rawat, Amit Srivastava and Shiv Kumar Gaud, the security guard of the apartment where the alleged incident took place, have already been recorded before the MP-MLA court.”

“Now, the process of recording the statement of the accused at MP-MLA court is due,” he added.

The complainant and Suraj had set themselves on fire outside the Supreme Court on August 16 after levelling serious allegations against the police and other authorities, including DIG

Amit Pathak

, retired IG Amitabh Thakur and a judge of conspiring against her.

The incident resulted in massive action and former Varanasi SSP Amit Pathak was attached to DGP headquarters by the state home department.

The in charge of the Cantonment police station in Varanasi, Inspector Rakesh Singh and sub-inspector Girijashanker Yadav were suspended and the state government formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the self-immolation case.

Former circle officer Bhelupur Amaresh Singh Baghel was suspended by the state government on December 30, 2020, for performing laxity in investigation in the rape case after parts of his investigation report had leaked, showing the BSP MP as a victim of a conspiracy hatched by a jailed gangster.

Alleging that on March 7, 2018, Atul Rai had raped her after calling her to his apartment, the woman had lodged a rape case against him on May 1, 2019, with the Lanka police station.

Atul Rai, who had filed nomination as BSP candidate from Ghosi parliamentary seat, won the elections as an absconder and later surrendered before court on June 22, 2019, and has been in jail since then.

Police had filed a chargesheet against Rai and hearing in the case was taking place at MP-MLA court at Prayagraj.

Atul Rai’s brother Pawan Kumar lodged a complaint in November 2020 with the Cantonment police station of Varanasi, accusing the woman of having forged her date of birth in documents attached to her rape complaint. A

non-bailable warrant

was issued against the woman and her companion in this case by the Varanasi court in August first week.

Before it, the complainant had also filed one more case against the jailed MP and his companion Sudhir Singh with the Lanka police in December 2020, accusing the two of defaming her through propaganda on social media.

Meanwhile, the complainant’s grandfather in his village in Narahi area of Ballia district had no idea regarding her death in Delhi till Tuesday late evening as he said he or his family members had not received any call from her mother, who was staying in Delhi.

He said that for the past two years, the complainant had not visited her parental village after she lodged the case. “The police had once arrived here to confirm whether she belonged to this place. But, without telling the purpose of their visit, the cops returned,” he added.

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