VARANASI: Atul Rai, jailed BSP MP from Ghosi and one of his accomplice were booked under Gangster Act by Lanka police on Saturday.
The commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh said, “Rai, who is in Naini jail of Prayagraj, is accused in many criminal cases. The process to book him under Gangster Act had been initiated by Lanka police for his involvement in the same cases. A co-accused in the same cases Sujit Belwa, who is also in district jail of Varanasi, has also been booked under Gangster Act with him. Further action in this connection is in progress.”
As per police records, 21 criminal cases are lodged against Rai, who had already been booked under Gangster Act twice in 2009 and again two times in 2011. A total of 39 criminal cases are lodged against Belwa, who had also been booked under Gangster Act and Goonda Act in past.
Rai is in jail since June 22, 2019 after a woman filed a case against him with Lanka police station in May 2019 alleging he raped her at his apartment on March 7, 2019 and also recorded a video. Rai, who had filed nomination as BSP candidate from Ghosi Parliamentary seat won the election as an absconder and later surrendered before court on June 22, 2019.
The complainant and prime witness in the rape case had set herself on fire outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi on August 17 after levelling serious allegations on the police and other authorities, including DIG Amit Pathak, retired IG Amitabh Thakur and a judge of conspiring against her through live streaming on Facebook page. The witness succumbed to injuries at RML hospital on August 21 while the complainant died on August 24.
This incident had led to largescale action as former Varanasi SSP Amit Pathak was attached to DGP headquarters by the state home department. He too was accused of harassing them during his stint as Kashi district police chief. The in-charge of the Cantonment police station in Varanasi, Inspector Rakesh Singh and sub-inspector Girijashanker Yadav, were suspended in the same connection.
State government had formed a SIT to probe into the self-immolation case by the duo and on the basis of the report submitted by the two-member panel, further action like arrest of Amitabh Thakur was done in Lucknow.
A former circle officer of Bhelupur, Amaresh Baghel, who was charged for extending help to Rai in this rape case and sent to jail in September following his suspension in 2020, had also been sacked from police department recently.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
