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Unnao accident: UP police form SIT as victim battles for life

The SIT will be headed by Additional Superintendent of Police, Raebareli

People signing on a banner in support of Unnao rape victim during a peaceful protest at India Gate in New Delhi | Arvind Jain

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the accident that left the Unnao rape victim and her lawyer critically injured, and two of her aunts dead. The SIT was formed even as the state government sent a formal request to the Centre for a CBI investigation into the incident.

“Until the CBI takes over the case, an SIT has been constituted which will be headed by Additional Superintendent of Police, Raebareli. It will have three different teams. All of them have been assigned different responsibilities. The SIT will look into all the aspects of the case,” said Praveen Kumar, IG Law and Order.

Jailed BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is accused of raping the minor girl in 2017, and nine others were booked for murder on Monday, a day after the car in which the victim, her family and lawyer were travelling was hit by a speeding truck in Rae Bareli.

Sengar was arrested on April 13 last year. 

The victim's family filed a complaint, alleging "conspiracy" behind the Sunday's car crash.

Earlier in the day, the family of the victim sat on a dharna outside the Trauma Centre, demanding that her uncle Mahesh Singh, who is lodged in the Rae Bareli jail, be granted parole to perform the last rites of his wife and sister-in-law who had died in the Rae Bareli road accident on Sunday. Singh was later granted one-day parole by the Allahabad High Court.

Meanwhile, the opposition stepped up its attack against the BJP on Tuesday, accusing the ruling party of giving its MLA political protection.