Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi
A special CBI court on Friday sentenced former BSP MLA Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi to 10 years in jail for the rape of a minor domestic help in Banda district in December, 2010. Two of his associates — Ram Naresh Dwivedi alias Ravan and Virendra Kumar Shukla alias Garg — were sentenced to two years in jail.
Senior Public Prosecutor (CBI), S Islam, said that CBI Judge Vinod Kumar Srivastava has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Dwivedi — former MLA from Banda’s Naraini constituency. Out of this, Rs 50,000 is to be paid to the victim.
Defence counsel D K Rana said they will move higher court against the order. “The former MLA was out on short-term bail for treatment, as he had undergone kidney transplant in May last year. His short-term bail ended on May 25, but he informed the court that he was hospitalised at Lucknow SGPGI for treatment. On Friday, he got discharged and appeared before the court,” said Rana. The other accused were out on bail.
According to the prosecution, the father of the girl, who reportedly was close to then BSP MLA Dwivedi, left the girl to work as a domestic help at his residence in December 2010.
The girl escaped from Dwivedi’s house a few days later. She was later allegedly found by Dwivedi’s men and the police in a nearby village. The police later booked her for stealing Rs 5,000, a cellphone and clothes from the MLA’s house.
The girl was produced before the court, which sent her to judicial custody. A few days later, her father and brother, after meeting her in jail, alleged that she was raped by Dwivedi and his associates during her stay in his house. They also alleged that police had framed her in a false theft case. Dwivedi was arrested on January 14, 2011.
The same month, the Allahabad High Court took suo motu cognizance of media reports and ordered that the girl be released from jail.
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