Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Two months after a 22-year-old Dalit woman in Unnao went missing, the police exhumed her decomposed body draped in a blanket from a septic tank near an ashram, owned by the son of a former Samajwadi Party minister.
The district police authorities also suspended the local SHO for alleged laxity in the probe on Friday.
Rajol Singh, the son of former SP minister late Fateh Bahadur Singh and owner of the ashram was arrested on January 24 in connection with the alleged abduction of the woman and was being interrogated, said police.
It may be recalled that the victim’s mother had tried self-immolation in connection with the case in front of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s vehicle in Lucknow on January 25. She had alleged that the SP leader’s son had abducted her daughter and had kept her captive in his property.
Alleging laxity by SHO Akhilesh Chandra Pandey of the local police station, the mother of the deceased on Friday sought to meet Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saying that she was not satisfied with the police probe into the matter. She expressed the fear of rape of her daughter before being killed.
A resident of the Sadar Kotwali area of Unnao, the victim’s mother said that she wanted to meet the chief minister to urge him for strict action against the culprit. The autopsy of the SC victim revealed that she was strangulated to death. The post-mortem report also showed that her neck was broken. The victim had gone missing on December 8, last year. The autopsy report also stated that she was assaulted and two injuries on her head were noticed.
The victim’s mother claimed that the police did not pay heed to her complaints when the woman went missing. “The officials said your girl has run away from home. She will return soon. The officials did not even let us meet the SP,” she said while speaking to media persons.
The body was recovered when the Sadar Kotwali Police SWAT team reached the spot and dug out the body – buried four feet under the ground, on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the district magistrate and SSP of Unnao had met the family of the victim.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Unnao, Shashi Shekhar Singh said, “On December 8, a missing complaint was filed after which an FIR was lodged on January 10 as per the rules. One person was arrested and the investigation is in progress.
Based on the probe findings, the body was recovered. Further strictest action will be initiated against the culprit.”
On the family’s allegation about the delay in lodging the case, the ASP said that initially a missing complaint was lodged because the victim was an adult. When the Investigating Officer expressed doubt that the accused may have harmed the woman, police acted accordingly and recovered the body. “So far, one person has been arrested. We are looking for his accomplices,” said the ASP.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday, lashed out at the Samajwadi Party over the death of the woman. Reacting to the incident, Mayawati tweeted: “The recovery of the buried dead body of a Dalit girl in an SP leader’s field in Unnao district is very sad and a serious matter. The family had been suspecting the SP leader in the abduction and murder of the girl. The state government should immediately take strict action against the culprits and get justice for the victim’s family.”
