UP govt to approach HC for cancellation of Prajapati's bail

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to approach Allahabad High Court to seek cancellation of the bail granted to former minister Gayatri Prajapati by a special court in a rape case, a top law officer on Thursday informed.

This may spell fresh trouble for Prajapati. “The government is currently examining all relevant papers before challenging the bail order given by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in the case,” Advocate General Raghavendra Singh told.

Prajapati and two of his alleged accomplices were on Tuesday granted bail by special judge of POCSO court Om Prakash Mishra in connection with the rape case that had rocked the state some months ago during the Samajwadi Party rule.

However, his reprieve proved to be shortlived as a local court yesterday remanded him in judicial custody in two separate cases even before he could walk out of jail.

Prajapati was sent back to Gosainganj prison here after getting bail in the rape case the previous day.

The city police dug out old cases and convinced the court of chief judicial magistrate to send Prajapati back to judicial custody.

They produced case diaries of two FIRs registered at Gautampalli and Gomtinagar police stations here against Prajapati in order to convince the court that letting him out on bail can jeopardise the ongoing investigations in the two criminal cases.

A woman from Chitrakoot had approached Gautampalli police station on February 17 alleging that she was gang-raped by Prajapati and two more men forcibly for several months before she alerted the police.

She also alleged that the three had also sexually assaulted her minor daughter at Prajapati’s residence.

Also Read | Video: Former SP minister and rape accused Gayatri Prajapati arrested from Lucknow, sent to 14-day judicial remand

Chief Judicial Magistrate Sandhya Srivastava yesterday sent the ex-minister to judicial custody in connection with the case lodged by social activist Nutan Thakur, wife of senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur.

Nutan had lodged the FIR on June 20, 2015 at Gomtinagar police station in which she alleged that Prajapati had used his undue political and administrative clout to conspire with the then chairperson of state women commission Zarina Usmani and others to frame her and her husband in “completely false” rape charges and other allegations.

Police initially did not take action claiming that it was a false case intending to malign the minister. But subsequently, it was reopened on the orders of the chief judicial magistrate, Lucknow in September 2015.

The CJM court remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days till May 10 for interrogation.

In the third case, Meerut resident Rakesh Prajapati had lodged an FIR against Prajapati on March 21, 2107 alleging that he had given Rs 6 Lakh to him for procuring government service for his brother-in-law.

But, when he did not get a job, he asked Prajapati to return his money. At this, Prajapati abused him and also threatened him to implicate him in false case.

The case is registered for the offences of cheating and threat to life and investigation is going on.

On an application moved before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ritish Sachdeva by Gautampalli police, the court accepted the request sending him to judicial custody in the case till May 9 for the purpose of interrogation.

Prajapati will now have to obtain bail in these two cases also for securing his release from jail.

An FIR was registered against 49-year-old Prajapati and six others on February 17 on a Supreme Court directive.

Prajapati was then a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh.

After being on the run for nearly a month, Prajapati was arrested from the Aashiyana area here on March 15 and was sent to jail for allegedly raping the woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter in 2014. The six others had been arrested earlier.

Prajapati had approached the Supreme Court to get a stay on his arrest. But the apex court asked him to approach the court concerned. At the time of his arrest, Prajapati had claimed that he was innocent and the charges were a conspiracy to malign him.

The allegations against Prajapati were raked up by the BJP during the state assembly elections to attack the then Akhilesh government. The BJP had accused Akhilesh of shielding his tainted minister, a charge refuted by the Samajwadi Party.