Unnao rape case: CBI sleuths question Sengar in Sitapur prison

The victim has developed pneumonia and her condition remains critical

BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar | PTI BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar | PTI

The CBI on Saturday quizzed expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is lodged in a prison in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district on charges of raping a minor girl two years ago.

A three-member team of the central investigation agency visited the Sitapur district jail and questioned him for several hours.

On Friday, the CBI had questioned the 19-year-old Unnao rape survivor's uncle in a Rae Bareli prison.

Later in the night, the Rae Bareli administration, in compliance with a Supreme Court directive, shifted the rape survivor's uncle to the Tihar jail in Delhi. He is serving a 10-year sentence in a two-decade-old case filed by Sengar's brother Atul Singh.

In Rae Bareli, the CBI team was busy probing the accident, which left the rape survivor critically injured, by recreating the sequence of events. The agency also questioned the driver and the cleaner of the truck that rammed into the survivor's car on July 28.

Two of the rape survivor's aunts were killed in the accident, while her lawyer sustained serious injuries. The victim's family filed a complaint alleging "conspiracy" behind the car crash.

Sengar, who is in jail for allegedly raping the woman when she was a minor in 2017, was booked for murder by the CBI after the accident.

His arms licences for a single barrel gun, a rifle and a revolver were cancelled on Friday, some 15 months after he was arrested on April 13, 2018.

Victim develops pneumonia

According to the doctors treating the victim at the Trauma Centre in King George's Medical University in Lucknow, she has developed pneumonia and her condition remains critical.

"She is still on ventilator," the doctors said.

Her lawyer has been taken off the ventilator but is still not out of danger, they said, adding that he and the victim are being monitored round-the-clock.

According to the Supreme Court's order, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have taken over the security of the victim and her lawyer.

They have been deployed at the entry gate of the Critical Care Unit at the third floor of the Trauma Centre, where the victim is undergoing treatment.

Entry has been restricted and only family members and doctors are being allowed inside.

CBI officials, including women officials, also visited the Trauma Centre on Friday and Saturday to speak to the victim's family members.