Unnao custodial death case: CBI files chargesheet

The chargesheet, filed with special judicial magistrate (CBI) Sapna Tripathi in Lucknow, names the legislator’s brother Jai Deep Singh alias Atul Singh, Vineet Mishra, Birendra Singh alias Bauwa Singh, Ram Sharan Singh alias Sonu Singh and Shashi Pratap alias Suman. The five are presently lodged in Lucknow district jail.

The agency, meanwhile, gave a clean chit to one accused, Birendra Singh’s 21-year-old brother Shailu Singh, who too has been lodged in the jail since the case was registered three months ago.  “Investigation established that Shailu was working in his field when the accused assaulted the 43-year-old man,” the CBI officer said.

The chargesheet has been filed under IPC sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) read with 147 (rioting), 148 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 302 (murder), he added.

According to CBI, its investigation revealed that the father of the rape victim was assaulted after Shashi Pratap alleged that he had “insulted” the MLA and his brother and picked a fight with him. Pratap allegedly called Birendra Singh, who, along with Atul Singh and others, arrived at the spot and assaulted the man further.

They later handed over the man to the police. An FIR was lodged against him on a complaint filed by a man named Tinku Singh at Makhi police station in Unnao for allegedly creating trouble in the village. He was also booked under the Arms Act, after police “recovered” a country-made pistol from him. A local court then sent him to jail.

On April 8, the victim’s condition deteriorated and jail staff sent him to the district hospital where he died the next day.
The CBI later learnt that the man was falsely implicated under the Arms Act. Former station officer of Makhi police station Ashok Singh Bhadauriya and sub-inspectors Kamta Prasad Singh were arrested.

The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the case of falsely implicating the man under the Arms Act or the rape case, which too it is investigating. The MLA, also booked by the CBI for allegedly being part of a “conspiracy” in falsely implicating the man, is currently lodged in jail in the rape case, along with other accused.