UP Minister's Son-in-law Named In FIR On Unnao Victim's Car Crash, Says He Is Being Framed

The son-in-law of a UP minister is among the 10 people booked on murder charges after a road crash killed two aunts of the Unnao rape victim and left her critically injured.

Uttar Pradesh minister Ranvendra Pratap Singh's son-in-law Arun Singh has been named along with rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the FIR registered on July 29, following the truck-car collision on Sunday in Rae Bareli district. The CBI, which has taken over the accident case, has named the same people in its own FIR. Sengar, a four-time MLA who represents Bangermau, was arrested in 2018 for allegedly raping the teenage girl at his residence in 2017.

Currently on Amarnath Yatra, Arun Singh on Wednesday said, "Is it a crime to be someone's son-in-law?" His father-in-law is the minister of state for agriculture in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. "This FIR has been registered to falsely implicate me. You can take my location, conduct a Narco test, check my track record of past six months and also check my call details," Arun Singh told PTI over phone.

"If you find even a remote connection, you can point fingers at me. I am absolutely confident that there is not even a remote connection of the case with me," he said. "I am willing to fully cooperate with the CBI," he added, claiming that he has been named in the FIR owing to political rivalry with a co-accused in the car-truck collision case, Awadhesh Singh, whom he had defeated in an election for the block pramukh from Nawabganj in Unnao.

My political adversaries have been misleading the rape victim's uncle Mahesh Singh, he said. He said he had undertaken "Amarnath Yatra" after informing local police and would return by Friday. Earlier in the day, Minister Ranvendra Pratap Singh too admitted that one of his relatives has been named in the FIR in the case of the collision of a truck with the car of Unnao rape victim. The FIR, in which 15 to 20 unnamed people figure, was registered at the Gurbuxganj police station in Raebareli, they said.

The case was registered on a complaint from the rape victim's uncle Mahesh Singh, who is lodged in the Raebareli jail, police said. A truck hit the car carrying the rape survivor, her family and lawyer when they were going to meet Mahesh Singh on July 28. Besides the BJP legislator, the other named in the FIR are Manoj Singh Sengar, Vinod Mishra, Haripal Singh, Naveen Singh, Komal Singh, Arun Singh, Gyanendra Singh, Rinku Singh and Awadhesh Singh. Mahesh Singh uncle has alleged that the MLA got the car hit on July 28.