'Framing' Unnao rape survivor's father on false charge: Court rejects man's anticipatory bail plea

A court here dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of an accused on Thursday in a case of an alleged conspiracy to frame the Unnao rape survivor's father for possession of illegal firearms and sent him to judicial custody.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma rejected the pre-arrest bail plea and sent accused Sharadveer Singh to the Tihar jail after he appeared in the court in pursuance to a summons issued to him on taking cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case.

The arguments on framing of charges against Singh are scheduled to commence on Friday.

The court had earlier framed charges against expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his brother Atul Sengar, three former Uttar Pradesh Police personnel and five others for allegedly framing the 19-year-old rape survivor's father in an illegal arms possession case.

It had also noted that Sharadveer Singh was part of the alleged conspiracy to frame the rape survivor's father by planting arms and for falsely implicating him by creating of fake documents.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named Singh for offences under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document), 193 (false evidence), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant sections of the Arms Act.

The court had earlier framed all the accused for allegedly killing the rape survivor's father in judicial custody.

The counsel of the rape survivor and her mother, Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, had earlier told the court that there were lapses in the CBI investigation and further probe was required to bring forth the role of others involved in the alleged conspiracy.

The CBI had told the court that further investigation was going on and it might file a supplementary chargesheet in the case.

The woman was allegedly raped by Sengar in 2017, when she was a minor. The court had also framed charges against the MLA, representing Bangermau in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, in the rape case.

The rape survivor's father was arrested on April 3, 2018. He died in judicial custody six days later.