The victim in the Uannao case, who had accused MLA Kuldeep Sengar of rape, is critical after a truck hit the vehicle she was travelling in yesterday. As per reports, the incident took place while the victim was travelling to Raebareli with her aunts and her lawyer Mahendra Singh.
Unnao rape case: Victim and 2 others injured after the vehicle they were travelling in, collided with a truck in Raebareli. More details waited. pic.twitter.com/n26TGoxpcK
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 28, 2019
As per reports, the vehicle collided with a truck going in the opposite direction towards Lalganj in UP. The victim’s aunts had received fatal injuries. Advocate Vimal Kumar Yadav, a junior of the victim’s lawyer Mahendra Singh, was quoted by ANI saying that the victim’s aunts had succumbed to their injuries soon. The victim and the lawyer are critical.
The truck reportedly hit the vehicle near the turning at Sultanpur Kheda village in the Lalganj-Raebareli highway. The victim, her lawyer and others were reportedly travelling to Raebareli to meet the victim’s uncle who is imprisoned in Raebereli jail in charges for assaulting Kuldeep Sengar’s brother Atul Sengar.
The victim and her lawyer are being treated at the King George Medical University and Trauma Centre in Lucknow.
Rajiv Krishnan, ADG, Lucknow Zone has stated that the truck has been seized by the police and the driver has been arrested. The police have requested the victim’s family to lodge an FIR in this regard.
The victim’s sister has reportedly alleged that the truck hit is a conspiracy by the rape accused MLA Kuldeep Sengar.
It is notable here that the victim was provided with police security since last year. However, as per reports, the police team deployed for her security was not accompanying her when the accident occurred. MK Verma, the SP in Unnao has stated to ANI that the police are investigating as to why the security guards were not present with the victim yesterday.
The Unnao rape case had made headlines in April last year when the victim had accused that she was raped by Kuldeep Sengar and his associates back in 2017 but Sengar has been avoiding arrest due to his political influence. The case has been riddled with many accusations, counter-accusations and instances of clashes and assault between the victim’s family and Sengar’s associates.
The victim’s father had died under mysterious circumstances while under police custody. The victim was then assured full security after she threatened to immolate herself in front of the chief minister’s residence. 2 police officers and 4 constables were suspended after the incident.
Kuldeep Sengar’s brother Atul was arrested soon after the death of the victim’s father. MLA Kuldeep Sengar had stated that the case is a political conspiracy against him. On 12 April last year, the case was handed over to the CBI. The CBI had arrested Kuldeep Sengar the very next day after a long interrogation.
Sengar is presently lodged in Sitapur jail. A woman named Shashi Singh is also named in the case by the victim as a co-accused for abetting the rape.
The Unnao rape case had brought the state machinery, the local police and even some members of the judiciary under heavy criticism. The Allahabad High Court had questioned the police’s delay in arresting MLA Sengar. The victim had stated in the FIR against Sengar that she was raped by Kuldeep and his associates on June 4, 2017, when she had gone to meet him seeking a job.
Kuldeep Sengar is a BJP MLA from Bangarmau. He had joined BJP in 2017 after a ten-year stint with Samajwadi Party. He had first become an MLA from Unnao Sadar on a BSP ticket. He had joined SP later and had won the Bangarmau seat in 2007 and Bhagwant Nagar seat in 2012. He had joined BJP in 2017 and won the Bangermau seat.
