Seven people, including the district presidents of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, have so far been arrested in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl here, police said on Saturday.
The Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak said the arrests were made following the girl's complaint that she was raped for five years in different parts of the city and had named 25 people in her complaint along with three unknown persons.
A case was registered at the Sadar Kotwali police station on October 12 against 25 people -- including the victim's father and uncle -- and three unknown persons.
Mr. Pathak said a hotel in Mirzapur district was raided on Friday from where Tilak Yadav and Deepak Ahirvar, the SP and BSP district chiefs of Lalitpur respectively, and an engineer named Mahendra Dubey were arrested.
The three were produced before a local court, which sent them to 14-day judicial custody. Earlier, four people were arrested in connection with the case.
