Girl who accused Samajwadi Party MLA of rape found dead in Sultanpur

LUCKNOW: The murder of a 22-year-old woman in Sultanpur has triggered a political storm as the victim’s father on Monday lodged a police complaint accusing local MLA and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Arun Kumar Verma and his associates of murder.
In 2013, the victim had accused the MLA and his aides of gang rape but later withdrew the charge in the court.
With the BJP leadership, including PM Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, attacking the ruling SP government for poor law and order situation in the state, the case has given fresh ammo to the party to take on chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“This is not new with SP,” said BJP’s state media in charge, Harish Srivastav. “The FIR against the SP MLA only adds to our concern about the deteriorating crime scene in the present regime.”
Akhilesh govt ready to refer murder case for CBI probe
CM Akhilesh Yadav, however, claimed that investigation was still under way and gave clear indications that the government was ready to refer the probe to the CBI.
“If the victim’s family wants the incident to be probed by any other agency, the state government will recommend the case accordingly,” he said. Refuting allegations of the SP MLA’s involvement, Akhilesh said one should not jump to conclusion.
Arun Kumar Verma is an SP candidate from Sultanpur, which is going to the polls in the fifth phase on February 27.
The death came to light late on Saturday night, a couple of hours after the victim went missing and a hunt was started by the family and police. The body was found near the boundary wall of the district Panchayat Bhawan building, some 50 metre away from her house.
According to the postmortem report, “Ligature marks found on the neck seemed to have been caused by hanging.” The autopsy has also noticed a “congested viscera” as well. “Since the postmortem report is not categorical about the cause of death, we are seeking opinion from forensic experts,” said Sultanpur SP.
Police have registered a murder case. “We have registered a case under section 302 of the IPC against Arun Kumar Verma and his unidentified associates on the basis of the written complaint of the victim’s father,” said IG, Lucknow zone, A Satish Ganesh.