Politics Insight News Without Politics
(Pi Bureau)
Within days of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning the Uttar Pradesh assembly election and signalling the change of guard, Lucknow Police arrested rape tainted state cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati this morning.
Prajapati had gone underground and was evading arrest over the last several weeks, following the registration of a gang rape case against him and six of his aides on the direction of the Supreme Court after hearing a petition filed by the victim.
The relevant provisions of POSCO Act were also added in the police case for the alleged molestation of the victim’s minor daughter.
Although, Lucknow Police in its hot pursuit had raided the residences of Prajapati, yet he had managed to hoodwink the might of the UP police force by remaining untraceable. The opposition had charged the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) with shielding the accused and cops deliberating going slow in the case and working under duress.
Prajapati had contested the 2017 UP poll from Amethi assembly constituency, but lost to BJP nominee Garima Sinh, who also defeated Congress candidate and the second wife, Amita Sinh, of her estranged husband Sanjay Sinh.
Prajapati, who was considered close to displaced Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav, had already faced charges of indulging in large scale illegal mining. He was removed from the state council of ministers by UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, with whom he always shared a rather non-cordial relationship throughout the five year SP rule.
However, he was re-inducted into the cabinet at the insistence of Mulayam, who continued to repose his faith in Prajapati. During the period of raging power feud in SP, Prajapati remained aligned with the Mulayam faction. When Akhilesh toured Amethi to address a public meeting last month, Prajapati was not allowed to dais with the CM.
On its part during electioneering, BJP attacked the Akhilesh government over Prajapati’s case and his prolonged disappearance. BJP mascot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also made several references to the disgraced state minister to drive home the point of Akhilesh government allegedly shielding criminals.
In his rally, BJP president Amit Shah had announced that once BJP came to power in UP, Prajapati would be unearthed without further delay and put behind bars.
With the power equation changing in UP with BJP sweeping the poll following counting on March 11, Lucknow Police had managed to arrest all the other accused barring Prajapati. To put pressure on him, the cops had even detained his son Anurag and nephew Surendra yesterday.
Meanwhile, Prajapati was produced in a Lucknow court, which remanded him to 14 days judicial custody.
