CBI books BJP MLA, 9 others for Unnao crash

New Delhi: The CBI has booked Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and nine others in the car accident case of the Unnao rape survivor. It has also booked 20 unknown persons under charges of criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and criminal intimidation.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, meanwhile, sought an explanation from its secretary-general on why a letter written by the Unnao survivor to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi fearing a threat to her life was not placed before the CJI till 4 pm Tuesday, after the media  starting flashing the news of the letter reaching the court. The CJI has directed listing of the matter on Thursday.

Sources said a special team formed by the CBI to probe the case reached the accident site in the Gurubakshganj area of Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district Wednesday. A speeding truck hit the car in which the rape survivor was travelling from her home in Unnao to Rae Bareli on Sunday, killing two relatives and leaving her and a lawyer critically injured. The rape victim’s aunt, who was killed in the truck-car collision, was cremated on the banks of the Ganga in Unnao on Wednesday amid tight security. The rape victim’s uncle, Mahesh Singh, who was granted short-term bail to attend the last rites of his wife, was brought to the Ganga ghat from the Rae Bareli district jail to attend the ritual.

A CBI spokesperson said the team inspected the crime scene and the truck which hit the white Maruti Swift car.

The accident took place when the woman, who accused the BJP MLA of raping her when she was a minor on the pretext of arranging a job for her, was returning after meeting her uncle Mahesh Singh at Rae Bareli jail. The BJP claimed it had suspended the MLA from the party after the allegations had surfaced last year.

The CBI, which is probing the rape case as well, has filed a chargesheet against the MLA and his relatives. The numberplate of the truck, coming from the opposite direction on the wrong side, was smeared with black paint, eyewitnesses said. The CBI team also spoke to police officers who were the first responders after the accident. The team will also record the statements of the police officers in the security detail of the woman, and seek their responses on why they didn’t accompany the victim on Sunday when the accident took place, sources said. The CBI has taken over the investigation into the case from the Uttar Pradesh police by re-registering its FIR. The accident FIR was first registered by the UP police on a complaint by Singh, the victim’s uncle, now in jail. After the victim accused Sengar of raping her, the uncle was slapped with multiple false case by those close to Sengar, Singh alleged. The police arrested Singh and he was transferred to Rae Bareli prison.

In the Supreme Court, seeking an explanation from the secretary-general, the Chief Justice said: “The secretary-general must explain why if the said letter has been received on 17.7.2019, the same was not put up either before the bench on the judicial side or before the Chief Justice of India on the administrative side until 4 pm yesterday.”

Saying the letter was yet to be placed before him, Mr Gogoi said: “We have to do something in this highly destructive and volatile atmosphere.” Saying he has “yet to see the letter, what is the letter about, who wrote it, when wrote it”, CJI Gogoi said that he has read in the “newspapers that the letter reached July 17, 2019, I have yet to see it.  I have no idea what it is....”

Directing listing of the matter on Thursday, CJI Gogoi sought the report of the registry on the “administrative order passed by the Chief Justice of India yesterday with regard to the letter written by the victim in Unnao rape case, which the media has reported to have been received in the registry on 17.7.2019”.