Mulayam Singh Yadav meets Gayatri Prajapati in jail, says he has been framed

While talking to media outside the jail, Yadav said Prajapati had been framed in a fake case and police had no concrete proof against him. He said Prajapati was being intentionally targeted and being treated as if he was a terrorist. He said he would meet the UP director general of police regarding the matter.

Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday went to meet former minister Gayatri Prajapati, who is in Lucknow district jail since March 18 in connection with the alleged gang rape of a Chitrakoot woman and attempt to rape of her minor daughter.

The meeting between the SP patriarch and Prajapati lasted for over one hour.(HT Photo)

The meeting between the SP patriarch and Prajapati lasted for over one hour during which the latter reportedly explained the entire sequence of event and how he was framed in the case.

While talking to media outside the jail, Yadav said Prajapati had been framed in a fake case and police had no concrete proof against him. He said Prajapati was being intentionally targeted and being treated as if he was a terrorist. He said he would meet the UP director general of police regarding the matter. 

 He said he will meet the Prime Minister and if needed the President also. 

“Prajapati held Yadav’s feet and urged help to bring him out of jail. Yadav consoled him when he started crying while narrating the sequence of event,” a source present said. Prajapati was considered the blue eyed boy of the SP patriarch and the latter always stood for him and got him reinstated when he was removed from the minister’s post by former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. 

 Yadav earlier tried to meet Prajapati on Monday but the jail administration did not allow the meeting as it was Eid holiday. 

On the basis of multiple evidences, the city police Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 2 had filed the charge sheet against Prajapati and his six accomplices in the gang rape and attempt to rape cases. The charge sheet findings suggest the involvement of all seven accused in the crime. 

The former minister and his six accomplices were accused by a 42-year-old woman from Chitrakoot of gang raping her and attempting to rape her minor daughter. The woman had alleged that she was raped when she met the former minister in 2013 for mining contract. 

She alleged the accused took her obscene photos and raped her multiple times for three years by threatening to make the pictures public. An FIR was lodged with Gautampalli police station here on February 18 after the Supreme Court ordered in the matter on February 17. Later, the former minister was arrested and sent to jail on March 18 after being on run for around one month. 

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had earlier cancelled the bail given by Lucknow's session court to Prajapati and six others on May 12. Prajapati however failed to come out of jail as warrants were issued against him in two other cases.