Friday, Apr 26, 2024 | Last Update : 12:52 PM IST
Rape-accused Gayatri Prajapati sent to 14-day judicial remand
The outgoing UP minister, who was absconding since Feb 17, was arrested from Lucknow on Wednesday.
Lucknow: Absconding rape-accused Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati, who was arrested on Wednesday morning by the Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with the case, has been sent to 14-day judicial remand.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, Manzil Saini told PTI that Prajapati was arrested from Aashiyana area of the city early this morning.
Six persons named in the FIR against the 49-year-old outgoing Uttar Pradesh minister have already been been picked up by the police.
Police had on Tuesday interrogated the Samajwadi Party leader's two sons and nephew to get some inputs regarding his whereabouts. Prajapati was booked on a Supreme Court directive and an FIR was lodged on February 17 against the minister and six others for allegedly gang-raping a woman and alleged attempt to rape her minor daughter.
The apex court had asked the UP Police to submit an action taken report regarding the incidents in eight weeks.
A Look Out notice was also issued against him as also a Non-Bailable Warrant. His passport too has been impounded. Airports across the country had been alerted about the possibility of Prajapati trying to flee the country.
In the just-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapati had lost to BJP from Amethi, the seat he held.
Reacting to the arrest of the SP leader, BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the "State police was till now politicised. As soon as it has been freed from political pressures it has started performing resulting in the arrest".
