A Faizabad court on Tuesday held guilty the BSP MLA from Milkipur in Faizabad district and former Minister, Anand Sen Yadav, and two others in the kidnapping and murder of a young Dalit woman in October 2007.
Special Judge (SC and ST), Faizabad, Matender Singh, awarded life imprisonment to the MLA, his driver Vijay Sen, and a woman associate Seema Azad in the sensational case that rocked the government within months of BSP chief Mayawati taking over as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in May 2007.
Mr. Yadav and his driver are in jail for the past three years. The MLA was charged with illegal confinement, rape, kidnapping and murder in the first information report lodged by the girl's father after she went missing on October 22, 2007. He was also accused of destroying evidence. The woman's body was never found.
A student of a college in Faizabad, the woman reportedly came into contact with Mr. Yadav during electioneering for the 2007 Assembly polls. Mr. Yadav, who was earlier in the Samajwadi Party before joining the BSP, and the woman reportedly became closer. It was alleged that she started exerting pressure on the MLA to marry her after she allegedly became pregnant.
It was alleged that the MLA had the woman bumped off by his driver Vijay Sen. Since it was said that her body was dumped in the river Gomti in the neighbouring Sultanpur district, police divers and boatmen were pressed into service to retrieve the body, but to no avail. Search operations continued for about a month before the police gave up hope.
It was also said that her body might have been thrown in the Saryu, which flows through Faizabad and Ayodhya.
Son of the controversial former Faizabad MP, Mitra Sen Yadav, Mr. Anand Sen Yadav was sworn in as Minister while still in jail in connection with another case. Later, he was dropped from the Ministry. He was subsequently suspended from the party.
