Unnao Rape Case: ‘Investigating officer conspired… Unnao rape case victim complains to CBI, alleges collusion

New Delhi. The victim of the 2017 Unnao rape case has approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), requesting it to file an FIR against the then investigating officer for “connivance” with former MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in this case.

The victim also claimed that she and her family were facing threats from various quarters. This development comes at a time when there is growing frustration in many quarters after the Delhi High Court recently granted conditional bail to Sengar and suspended his life sentence in the case.

However, Sengar will remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence in the custodial death of the rape victim’s father. The victim, in her complaint, alleged that the investigating officer conducted the investigation maliciously and fraudulently and in a manner so as to benefit Sengar and other accused by “deliberate omission and manipulation of the facts presented” and to secure a favorable outcome.

She alleged that the officer used forged school documents in the charge sheet, showing her as a government school student and also showing a different date of birth, when in reality, she had never taken admission in that school. The victim also claimed that the officer had mentioned in the charge sheet that she was using the mobile phone of a woman named Heera Singh, even though she never used that phone.

Besides, several statements attributed to him have been included in the charge sheet, he claimed. In the six-page complaint, the victim claimed that she had complained earlier also, but no action was taken against the officer. The victim was a minor at the time of the rape in 2017.

Citing the trial court’s order convicting Sengar, where the court questioned the recording of his statement by the investigating officer, he accused the officer of “colluding” with the accused to shield them (Senger and others) from prosecution. The CBI had challenged the trial court’s observation in the Delhi High Court.

During the trial, the CBI had said that the investigating officer’s claims on the mobile phone used by the victim were “mere opinion” and not “conclusive evidence”, and on that basis alone, “no impression can be drawn that the officer was favoring the accused”.

The court had said, “There is more to the case than meets the eye. “It appears that the investigation was not conducted in a fair manner and the attitude of the investigating officer/CBI indicates that the statement of the girl was recorded with the sole intention of discrediting the version of the victim and her family members in the present case.”