Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the Rae Bareli accident in which the Unnao rape victim and her lawyer were critically injured and her two aunts were killed, have sought a week-long police custody remand of the truck driver and cleaner for extracting valuable inputs from them that may help in solving the case.
A CBI court in Lucknow gave a one-day transit remand to the CBI to take both accused to New Delhi on Friday and produce them before a CBI court there and take further remand.
In the meantime, on the request of the CBI, the apex court on Friday put on hold its order for transferring the accident case to national capital to enable the CBI to complete its ongoing investigation. Soon after the apex court decision, the CBI again moved application for the custody remand of the driver and the cleaner for a week.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court had transferred all five cases related to the Unnao rape, including Rae Bareli accident, out of UP to New Delhi.
The CBI has recorded the statements of all eyewitnesses and truck’s owner, driver and cleaner. It will now record the statements of the 10 named accused in the case, including rape accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who is lodged in Sitapur district jail.
Besides, policemen and officials posted at Makhi police station in Unnao between 2017 and 2018 have been summoned to Lucknow by the CBI for recording their statements. A CBI team also spoke to the victim’s mother for over 90 minutes late on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Sengar continues to have his arms licence, despite being chargesheeted for raping the underage victim and killing her two family members, due to delay in judicial process.
District Magistrate of Unnao, Divendra Kumar Pandey, said, “Cancellation of arms licence is a judicial matter and not administrative. A decision on it can only be taken after (the court) hears both parties. The police has filed its report for cancellation of Sengar’s licence and the MLA’s lawyer has filed a reply. Since lawyers had been on strike, hearing could not take place. Now a decision will be taken.”
Meanwhile, the Unnao rape survivor’s mother on Friday said that they would not like to take the victim to All-India Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment as she was coming along well in King George’s Medical University in Lucknow.
The apex court has said that the Unnao rape victim’s family is at liberty to take call on shifting her to AIIMS from Lucknow hospital:
“We are not interested in going to Delhi as my daughter is getting proper treatment at King George’s Medical College. But if the doctors here recommend for shifting her to AIIMS, then it could be different,” she told reporters.
“The Supreme Court decisions have given us a hope that we could get justice and I thank all those who rallied behind us in our difficult times,” the victim’s mother said.
She said that action against the rape accused legislator should have been taken earlier. “Why they took such a long time to take action is a big question,” she said.
The condition of both the rape victim and her lawyer Mahendra Singh, was stated to be stable but still not out of danger.
Late on Thursday night, the security of the victim, her lawyer and her family was handed over to the CRPF replacing UP Police personnel.
The rape victim and her lawyer were injured while two of her aunts were killed in an accident in Rae Bareli on Sunday last. One of her aunts was a key witness in the rape case.
