Unnao rape and murder case: Key witness dies, buried before autopsy

KANPUR: In a new twist to the Unnao rape case - in which a BJP MLA is an accused - the survivor's family has demanded that the body of a key witness, who died last week, should be exhumed for an autopsy to know the reason for his death. Yunus, who died on August 18, was a witness in the accompanying assault case in which the rape survivor's father was assaulted and succumbed to his injuries in custody of local Maki police station on April 9, 2018.
The matter came to light on Wednesday when the survivor's uncle alleged that Yunus might have been poisoned and demanded an autopsy after exhuming his body.While Maki police station SHO told TOI that Yunus died due to illness, the survivor's uncle sought his family's permission to get the post mortem done.
He said that Yunus was a key witness in the murder of his elder brother whose daughter was allegedly raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. "I met Unnao SP Harish Kumar and submitted my application with him. I requested him to exhume the body and get the post mortem done since he was the main witness in the assault case and it is beyond understanding how did he die all of a sudden," he said.
Yunus's neighbours in Maki told TOI that he would run a small grocery shop and fell ill on August 18. "He was being rushed to district hospital, but he passed away on the way. His family members buried him soon after on the same day without informing the police," they say.
"How did Yunus die all of a sudden? He was absolutely well a day before his death on August 18. Also he was buried hurriedly. Why this haste?" he asks. In his application to SP Unnao, he has stated that BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his men want to get witnesses eliminated and weaken the entire case. "I, therefore, urge you to register an FIR and instruct the Makhi police station to initiate legal action," his application says.
While the CBI is probing the case, Sengar is in jail for allegedly raping the minor girl in June last year and then conspiring to assault her father - which led to his death in police custody - in April this year. Sengar's brother and his aides are also in jail in the assault case.