Uttar Pradesh: Three months after son of a former SP minister’s allegedly abducted a young Dalit woman, body is found near ashram

Unnao: On Thursday, in the KabbaKhera area of Unnao district, the body of a young Dalit woman who had been missing for two months was found in a septic tank pit on a vacant plot near the ashram of the former minister Fateh Bahadur Singh, and she had been probably only recently buried there.

In her complaint, the young woman's mother accused Rajol Singh, son of the late former Samajwadi Party minister Fateh Bahadur Singh, of abducting (kidnapping) and murdering her daughter. The family said, the police in this regard initially lodged a missing person complaint.

What are the details of the case?

On 8 December 2021, a 22-year-old Dalit woman from Unnao went missing under mysterious circumstances. After the woman's mother alleged that Arun Kumar, alias Rajol Singh, resident of Kalyani Devi and son of the late former minister Fateh Bahadur Singh, had abducted her daughter, the police registered a missing person case, but then put the matter in cold storage. On 10 January, however, following intervention by senior officials, a report was registered against Rajol Singh for kidnapping the young woman.

The mother tried to commit suicide in response to police apathy

On seeing that the police continued to not take any action against the accused, on 24 January in Lucknow, the young woman's mother attempted to commit suicide in front of a convoy of the former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The matter soon escalated, after which the police arrested Rajol Singh and took him in custody.

After analysis of call details, which confirmed that the young woman and Rajol Singh knew each other, the SWAT team started its investigation. Two police teams searched for the missing woman. Following surveillance, the SWAT team in-charge GauravKumar interrogated Suraj Singh, originally from Naya Gaon Mubarakpur in Hardoi district, and a close friend of the accused Rajol Singh and presently a resident of Khajuriha Bagh, Nai Basti. Suraj Singh confessed that both he and Rajol had killed the girl and then buried her body in the pit intended for a septic tank in a vacant plot behind the former minister's ashram, Divyanand Ashram, in Kabba Kheda.

The interrogation revealed that on the day of the incident, Rajol had told the woman to come to the ashram. There, Rajol and his companions strangled her to death and then buried the body in the septic tank pit after wrapping it in a blanket.

The ASP also said, "The body has been taken to the mortuary and the post-mortem report is awaited. Those responsible for the death of the girl will receive the harshest punishment."

SP Shashi Shekhar Singh informed the press, "The post-mortem will be done on Friday. Further action will be taken on the basis of the report."

The allegations made by the mother of the young woman

The mother has alleged that both the CO and the inspector knew the whereabouts of her daughter. Despite this, the police had let the young woman get killed.

Further allegations against the police have also been made by the mother of the deceased: "I took them to the ashram, but they did not let me come. On the contrary, they said that your daughter is an adult, she must have run away with someone."

"My girl was locked up in their house. We called the inspector (Prem Narayan Dixit), but he did not pick up the phone, he switched off the phone. Had the inspector gone with us, our daughter would have been alive," said the mother in a video statement.

She also said, "Rajol Singh killed my daughter in the ashram and buried her. Earlier, when we had come to the ashram with Inspector Prem Narayan Dixit, the whole ashram was opened and shown to us except for a bungalow with two or three floors."

Other matters pertaining to the incident

Journalist Mithilesh Dhar Dwivedi shared information and several videos clips related to the incident on Twitter: "Rajol Singh had been charmed by the young woman but he was much older. Along with his friend, he killed the girl and buried her in the ashram built by his father. Rajol was not in SP but used to take advantage of his father's influence. The police did not even let the mother meet the SP."

Allegations made against SP

Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, has raised several questions against the Samajwadi Party over the matter. He tweeted, "A Dalit daughter's body was found in a field of the SP chief, Shri Akhilesh Yadav. When the daughter's mother was pleading in front of your car,  then you will not listen to her but will protect the SP leader. In the new SP, every heinous crime of the followers will be pardoned! We will leave no stone unturned to bring justice to the victim by investigating and punishing the guilty!"

BSP supremo Mayawati tweeted, "The discovery of the body of a Dalit young woman in Unnao district buried in a field belonging to a leader of the SP is a very sad and serious matter. Her family members were already suspecting the SP leader regarding her abduction and murder. The state government should immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to bring justice to the victim's family.

Questions were also raised against the BJP's Yogi-run state government

Suraj Kumar Buddh reacted sharply to the matter, and tweeted, "The culprits have the protection of the SP, but what was the government doing for two and a half months? Because of Rajol Singh's caste affiliation, the Yogi government has also been protecting him. Both SP and BJP are casteist parties, and their collusion led to the brutal murder of an SC daughter."

ASP Shashi Shekhar's statement regarding the matter