Rape Accused BSP MP Atul Rai Surrenders in Varanasi Court

In April, the SP-BSP alliance’s Ghosi candidate, Atul Rai, was accused of rape by a college student from Varanasi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Newly-elected BSP MP Atul Rai, who had been accused of rape, evaded arrest and surrendered in a Varanasi court on Saturday, 22 June.

He has been sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

Rai was accompanied by hundreds of his supporters who shouted slogans in his support.

Before surrendering in court, he posted a video on Facebook thanking his voters and comparing the allegations against him to the ones against CJI Ranjan Gogoi, UP Minister Suresh Khanna and UP CM Yogi Adityanath. He said, “The three other people who had been implicated in a false rape cases have got justice. I hope I get the same.”

Rai was contesting the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat and activelu campaigning when he went missing after an FIR was lodged against him by a girl student who accused him of sexually assaulting her.

BSP President Mayawati had asked her cadres to continue campaigning for Rai, whom she believed, had been framed by his political rivals. Mayawati also addressed a meeting in support of Rai in Ghosi.

After he was declared elected, Rai did not turn up in Parliament to take oath of office and the police, earlier this week, obtained permission from the court to attach his property.

Rai, on Thursday, filed an application for his surrender in a Varanasi court.

(With IANS inputs)