UP BJP MLA Gets Clean Chit in Gang-Rape Case, Nephew Arrested

An FIR was lodged against BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi and six others in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Police on Saturday, 22 February, gave a clean chit to local BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi in a gangrape case as "no evidence" was found against him and arrested his nephew, officials were quoted as saying by PTI.

Five others, who had also been named in an FIR lodged on Wednesday, were also absolved of rape charges by the district police, they said.

The FIR was lodged against Tripathi and his kin after a complaint by a 40-year-old woman who had alleged that they had raped her in 2017.

“During investigation, no evidence was found against the Bhadohi MLA and five others. They have been given a clean chit,” Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh told newspersons.

"Tripathi's nephew Sandeep Tiwari has been arrested on charge of rape," he said.

Another member of the family, Neetesh, who had been named in the FIR, has been booked for manhandling and abusing the woman, he added.

The officer said that after the woman's statement was recorded before a magistrate, the probe was handed over to a two-member team, including the Gulafsha women's police station in-charge.

The team failed to find any evidence to corroborate her charges, Singh said.

‘Kept Her at a Hotel, Repeatedly Raped her’

The complainant had alleged that in 2017, Tripathi, the MLA from Bhadohi, and his six accomplices kept her at a hotel for a month and repeatedly raped her, Singh had earlier said.

She also claimed that she got pregnant and was forced to undergo an abortion, he added.

“The woman, whose husband died in 2007, met Tripathi’s nephew in 2014. She said that she was physically exploited by him for many years on the pretext of marriage,” Singh was quoted as saying by ANI on 11 February.

He added, “The woman also said that the MLA's nephew got her lodged in a Bhadohi hotel for about a month during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections where she was raped by the MLA and his family.”

A probe in this regard was handed over to Assistant Superintendent of Police Ravindra Verma. After he submitted his report, an FIR was registered against the seven men at the city police station, the officer added.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)