Lucknow, Jul 29 (IANS): Even as the 'conspiracy' theory in the accident of the Unnao rape survivor spins into a major political controversy, Uttar Pradesh Police claims in hushed tones that it was a 'mere accident'.
The state government which is in a defensive mode on the issue has already said that it is prepared to recommend a CBI inquiry into the accident in which one witness of the Unnao rape case was killed on Sunday.
Additional Director General of Police Rajiv Krishna said: "The truck was coming from Banda and was on its way to Fatehpur. It was raining heavily. The truck rammed straight into the sedan in which the rape survivor and other members were sitting. On blackening of the truck registration plate, the owner said that as the truck was taken on loan which he failed to pay back, he had put grease on the number plate to evade police action."
The police claim that the rape survivor's family has made it a "habit of blaming BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for all that goes wrong with them".
Sengar is lodged in Sitapur jail since April 2018. The ADG said that call details of the truck owner, truck driver and cleaner were being checked to see if they had any contact with the MLA's family members or supporters.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that Sengar has been blamed for the death of a witness.
In August last year, Yunus, a key CBI witness in the brutal thrashing of the rape survivor's father in police custody, died last year.
Yunus owned a general merchant shop in Makhi village of Unnao and had witnessed the assault on the victim's father.
Villagers said that Yunus suddenly fell ill and passed away within an hour even before he could be taken to the hospital for treatment. The family members buried him without even informing the CBI and the police.
The rape survivor's uncle, now in jail on forgery charges, had then blamed Sengar for the death of Yunus and had even demanded that the body be exhumed for post mortem.
Yunus' family, however, said that he had been suffering from a liver ailment and died a natural death. They refused to allow the body to be exhumed.
The rape survivor's family has been claiming that they were being repeatedly threatened by the MLA and his men.
CBI officials investigating the case, however, said that the rape survivor and her family could never give specific incidents where they had been threatened.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar's relatives, meanwhile, claim that the MLA is being targeted due to political rivalry in his own constituency.
"In 2002, he won the Unnao Sadar seat on a BSP ticket. This was the first time that the BSP won that seat since independence. Later, he joined Samajwadi party, and won from Bangermau in 2007 and Bhagwant Nagar in 2012. He joined Bhartiya Janata Party in 2017 to contest the legislative election and won from Bangarmau again. If he has won elections from three different constituencies, it proves his popularity," said one of his relatives who is also a politician.