BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi, His Five Sons and Nephew Booked for Gang-Rape
BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi. Image Courtesy: Indiatimes.com
The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday lodged an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi and six other men for raping a woman repeatedly over a month in 2017, reported PTI.
The six other men include five sons of Tripathi and a nephew. The woman had lodged a complaint in the matter on February 10.
The woman reportedly alleged that she had first been raped by Tripathi’s nephew, Sandeep Tiwari, in 2016. She is said to have not registered a case back then as the accused had promised to marry her, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Ram Badan Singh.
She has also alleged that she had been confined to a hotel in Bhadohi for overa month by Tiwari in 2017, prior to the state Assembly polls, where the seven accused would repeatedly rape her.
The woman reportedly claimed that she also got pregnant as a result and was forced to undergo abortion. The PTI report mentions that a probe in the matter was handed to Assistant Superintendent of Police Ravindra Verma. An FIR was filed on the basis of his report, the police said.
Singh said the woman's statement will be recorded before a magistrate and further action will be taken in the matter as per law.
A report in The Times of India mentions that the complaint was filed under sections 376D, 313, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The report adds that the woman, a widow, had met Tiwari on a train while returning home close to six years ago. It says that the duo grew close and Tiwari raped her in Bhopal, Varanasi and Mumbai after assurances of marriage.
While PTI reports her age as 40, a Hindustan Times report says she is in her 30’s. It adds Tripathi’s version, who reportedly called the allegations baseless saying they were made at the behest of a sand-mining mafia.
The HT report names the nephew as Sandip Tripathi and says the other five accused are Nitesh, Prakash, Deepak, Sachin Tripathi and Chandrabhushan Tripathi.
Ravindra Nath Tripathi is the BJP MLA from Bhadohi. He won the seat in 2017 by a narrow margin of just over 1000 votes.
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