Prayagraj murders:TMC alleges ‘massive cover-up’, says 2 victims raped before being killed

Our fact-finding team went to Khevrajpur village to meet the survivors. The family told us that bodies of two victims were found without clothes, says party’s national spokesperson

PRAYAGRAJ The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday alleged a “massive cover-up” in the recent murder of five members of a family in Khevrajpur village of UP’s Prayagraj and said that the women members of the family were raped before being killed.

Family members and relatives mourn after five members of a family found dead inside their home, at Khevrajpur village, near Prayagraj on Saturday. (ANI Photo)

Five members of a family were killed with a blunt object late on Friday night and their bodies were found on Saturday morning, said police.

A day after, a five-member fact-finding team of the TMC visited the village and demanded a CBI probe into the incident. The team comprised MP Dola Sen, former MP Mamata Bala Thakur, national spokesperson Saket Gokhale, West Bengal minister for state for food and civil supplies Jyotsna Mandi, and former MLA Lalitesh Tripathi.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Gokhale alleged a cover-up over the incident.

“Our fact-finding team went to Khevrajpur village in Prayagraj, UP to meet the survivors. Shockingly, the family told us that bodies of two victims were found without clothes,” said Gokhale.

The police were informed by the family members that they suspected that two of the victims had been “raped before being beaten to death,” he added.

“Despite this, the police have not filed an FIR of rape. When questioned, the local SP said the family hadn’t given this in writing,” he tweeted.

“One of these two victims was a 22-year-old woman who was paralyzed. I had to teach the SP the basics of law that once a cognizable offence is disclosed (even orally), police are bound to register an FIR. Clearly, a massive cover-up is being done in a rape and murder case,” added Gokhale.

He claimed: “This is a mass murder and rape case, but no one’s saying a word. We’ll be doing everything we can to get justice for the family. I’d appeal to all of you to not let this case get buried.”

The Prayagraj police had so far refrained from adding rape charges in the FIR as the post-mortem examination report indicated “haemorrhagic shock and coma due to ante-mortem head injury” as the cause of death of all five victims. According to SSP (Prayagraj) Ajay Kumar, no evidence of any sexual assault was found in the post-mortem examination. However, the police said that the vaginal swabs and slides of the women victims will be sent to the forensic science lab for further testing.

K. Sandeep Kumar

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