Key witness in case of Unnao minor rape victim father's assault dies

Police attribute it to liver disease; victim's uncle, however, alleges foul play.

The rape victim’s house, which remains locked, at Makhi village in Unnao district.

The Unnao rape case in which BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an accused has taken a new turn with the death of a key CBI witness in the case of alleged assault of the minor victim's father.

The witness died on Saturday and the matter came to light after the uncle of the minor alleged foul play. He said the body was buried in a hurried fashion without autopsy and without the witness' family informing the police or the CBI. He demanded that the body be exhumed for autopsy.

However, the police maintained that after a probe, it was found that the witness, Yunus, died of a liver disease.

Safipur circle officer Vivek Ranjan Rai, who probed the allegation, said on Thursday that

prima facie , on the basis of doctor prescriptions and testimony of the family, it was found that Yunus (30) was suffering from liver cirrhosis for the past few years and died of it.

“Since 2013, he was being treated by doctors in Shuklaganj, Kanpur and Lucknow. Doctors had given up on him and he died on August 18,” said the officer.

While Yunus' family has denied lodging any official complaint, the minor girl's uncle, in an application to the police and the CBI, alleged that Yunus was “murdered as part of a conspiracy,” said Mr. Rai.

The minor's father died in judicial custody in April this year, allegedly of the injuries he suffered during an assault by MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar's brother Atul Sengar and his aides. After the assault, he was arrested by the Unnao police on the charge of illegal possession of arms, and sent to judicial custody on a complaint from the MLA's side.

Brother dismisses conspiracies

While the minor's uncle was not available for comment, Yunus' brother Jaan Mohammad dismissed all conspiracies and said he had not made any application to the police.

Mr. Mohammad insisted that his brother had died of illness. “His liver was damaged. He was ill for the past four months...for three months he did not leave his bed,”said Mr. Mohammad.

Mr. Mohammad alleged that the minor's uncle offered him ₹10-12 lakh in cash if he allowed his brother's body to be exhumed. “I told him I won't dig up my brother's body at any cost,” he told reporters in Unnao.

Mr. Rai said that the matter would be further probed and if new facts emerged, action would be taken on them. The CBI has not commented on the development so far.

CBI in connection with the death of the minor's father. The others accused in the case are his aides, Vineet Mishra, Birendra Singh alias Bauwa, Ram Sharan Singh alias Sonu and Shashi Pratap Singh, all residents of Sarai Thok Makhi in Unnao district. They face charges of murder and criminal intimidation, among others.

As per the complaint of the minor's mother, on April 3 when her husband came down from Delhi to attend the court in Unnao in connection with her daughter's rape case, the MLA's brother and aides abused him and brutally assaulted him after rounding him up in front of their house. He sustained serious injuries in the assault and died in judicial custody.

After the post mortem, a three-member panel of doctors concluded that prima facie the minor’s father died due to “shock and septicemia” caused by “peritonitis and ascending colon perforation.”

The body had 14 ante mortem injury marks, most of them abrasions, contusions and blunt-type injuries.