Express News Service
LUCKNOW: The UP Police suspended two cops posted in Varanasi in connection with a self-immolation bid by the complainant in a rape case and the prime witness of the case outside the Supreme Court on Monday.
The cops suspended included in-charge of Cantonment police station in Varanasi, Inspector Rakesh Singh, and sub-inspector Girijashanker Yadav. The rape case pertains to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Ghosi in Mau Atul Rai, who is the main accused in the case and is in jail.
The woman (complainant) and her companion, who had suffered severe burn injuries in the incident, had accused the policemen of harassing them at the behest of jailed BSP MP Atul Rai by implicating them in a forgery case.
On Monday night the state home department had attached former SSP, Varanasi, Amit Pathak to DGP headquarters as he was also named in the harassment case during his stint as Kashi district police chief.
The police sources in Varanasi confirmed on Tuesday that both the inspector Cantt and the IO of the rape case in which MP Atul Rai is prime accused were suspended.
Former circle officer Bhelupur Amaresh Singh Baghel had already been suspended by the state government on December 30, 2020, for slackness in the investigation of the rape case after parts of his investigation report had leaked allegedly showing BSP MP as a victim of a conspiracy hatched by a jailed gangster.
Before committing self-immolation setting outside the SC on Monday, the complainant and her companion had come live on a Facebook page.
The rape case dates back to May 2019 when the woman had filed a complaint against Atul Rai with Lanka police station in Varanasi alleging he raped her at his apartment on March 7, 2019, and also recorded a video. Rai, who had filed nomination as BSP candidate from Ghosi parliamentary seat, won the elections as an absconder and later surrendered before the court on June 22, 2019.
Since then Rai has been in jail while his brother Pawan Kumar lodged a complaint in November 2020 with the Cantonment police station accusing the woman of having forged her date of birth in documents attached to her rape complaint.
Consequently, a non-bailable warrant was issued against the woman and her companion in the forgery case by Varanasi court in August first week.
The complainant early this year had moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer the rape case from Varanasi to Delhi, fearing a threat to her life after she was allegedly attacked by the MP’s men when she was going for a hearing at Varanasi.
Taking cognizance of the matter, the apex court, on March 9, this year, stayed the ongoing rape case proceedings in Varanasi court and issued a notice to the accused MP.
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