Rape-accused Samajwadi Party minister from UP Gayatri Prajapati's passport will be scrapped to stop him from leaving the country after he went missing after campaigning for the ongoing Assembly elections. The Uttar Pradesh Police will be seeking the cancellation of his passport.
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The minister's phone is untraceable, a senior police official said. Prajapati, the sitting MLA from Amethi, was last seen during an election campaigning on Monday (February 27).
"I removed the local police personnel deployed in his security a few weeks ago but he is still authorised for Y-grade security cover provided to him on threat perception," Anees Ahmad Ansari, superintendent of police (SP) of Amethi, told Hindustan Times. "He, however, had left behind his Y-grade security cover for last two days due to unknown reason," he said.
Prajapati, who has Y-grade security, was apparently "threatened" by his guards. He suspected that his guards would reveal his location and thus gave them the slip after being on the run since Monday, fearing arrest in a gang rape case.
UP police will get rape accused Gayatri Prajapati and passports of six others cancelled soon: ADG(Law and Order)Daljeet Chaudhary (file pic) pic.twitter.com/nVaoEwspVP
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 2, 2017
Police teams have seareched his Amethi house and two official residences in Lucknow but could not find him. He was yet to be traced till Thursday (March 2).
Until now, Prajapati had received protection from the state government.
The minister had been thrown out of the government by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but was reinstated following the intervention of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
"There's a party in UP that sings the Gayatri Prajapati mantra every morning," Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mocked the Samajwadi Party during an election campaigning.
The rape survivor had alleged that Prajapathi and his associates had gang-raped her and also tried to rape her 17-year-old daughter, which can be charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the IPC. The minor is undergoing treatment at New Delhi's AIIMS and once she records her statement, Gayatri's arrest could be imminent, the police said.
