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Cong Sitapur MP arrested on rape charges
A 45-year-old woman had lodged an FIR against the MP of raping her multiple times by promising to marry and build her political career for the past four years
After a chase of nearly two weeks, the state police on Thursday arrested Congress MP from Sitapur, Rakesh Rathore, who is accused of raping a 45-year-old woman by promising to marry and build her political career for the past four years, confirmed Sitapur superintendent of police (SP), Chakresh Mishra.
Speaking over the phone, he said that the local court has sent Rathore to jail in judicial custody till February 11 while further investigation in the case is on.
Earlier, on January 17, the FIR was lodged against the MP under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 64 for rape, 351 (3) for criminal intimidation and 327 (2) for threatening using a firearm at Sitapur’s City Kotwali police station.
The MP had been elusive since then amid attempts to get anticipatory bail in the case, but a Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Wednesday turned down his petition for anticipatory bail and directed him to surrender in the Sitapur district and sessions court within two weeks’ time.
Mishra said that the MP was arrested from his house while he was addressing a press conference to clarify his stand over the allegations levelled against him in the FIR. He said the MP has been taken to the city Kotwali police station for further legal proceedings. He said the accused was produced before the Sitapur court of the chief judicial magistrate, from where he was sent to jail in 14 days judicial custody.
The SP said the Sitapur police had been carrying out searches for the arrest of the accused at his hideouts in Sitapur, Lucknow and other cities. He said the police even served the notice at his Sitapur residence on January 21 asking to give his clarification over the allegations, but he did not turn up before the police and kept evading arrest for the past two weeks. “We raided his residence at around 1.30 pm after coming to know that he is holding a press conference to give clarification to the media over allegations levelled against him,” he said.
Earlier, the MP’s lawyer tried to defend him and requested the single bench of justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan to provide relief to him as the case has been registered after a delay of four years but the additional advocate general Vinod Kumar Shahi appealed to the court to turn down the petition stating that this is not a case where the accused should be provided any kind of immediate relief. The court had finally turned down the petition and directed the MP to surrender before the Sitapur district and sessions’ court within two weeks’ time.
The Sitapur MP/MLA court had also turned down the anticipatory bail application of the Congress MP on January 23.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai had demanded a judicial inquiry to probe the accusations against the MP.
