Rape accused BSP legislator declared absconder

Lucknow, July 12 (IANS) A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district Monday declared as absconders a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and his two aides, accused in a 2008 rape case.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate A.K. Gupta declared Yogendra Sagar, who represents the Bilsi constituency in Badaun, some 250 km from Lucknow, as absconding along with his two aides Tejendra Sagar and Minu Sharma.

The state police’s Crime Branch had submitted a chargesheet against Sagar in February last year, following which a lower court issued a non-bailable warrant against him in April 2010. However, the legislator did not turn up before the court.

The 18-year-old victim, an undergraduate student from Badaun, had alleged that the legislator, along with his aides, abducted her and took her to several places where they repeatedly raped her after drugging her, officials said.

The state government had ordered a Crime Branch enquiry July 7, 2008 after the victim’s father alleged that the police were trying to shield the legislator and his associates.