Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati is on the run as police are looking for him in a case of gangrape of a woman and molestation of her daughter. The FIR was registered after the Supreme Court ordered the UP Police to do so.

The apex court will hear the matter tomorrow. The Minister-on-the-run is expected to field a battery of lawyers in the Supreme Court to get a stay on the non-bailable warrant issued against him.

On the other hand, the UP Police are doing their homework to attach his properties if he continues to evade arrest and does not appear for questioning.

GAYATRI PRAJAPATI: A BPL CARD HOLDER TILL 2012

Gayatri Prajapati has a very interesting history in politics. His is the story of rags to riches via politics in a span of less than five years.

Till 2012, Gayatri Prajapati was a BPL card holder. He won his first Assembly election in 2012 after four unsuccessful attempts.

Gayatri Prajapati shot to fame after defeating Amita Singh of the Congress in Gandhi family's pocket-borough of Amethi. Since then he is known for his proximity with Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and brother Shivpal Yadav.

A year later, first-time MLA Prajapati was inducted into Akhilesh Yadav's ministry, apparently at the behest of Shivpal Yadav under his own tutelage as MoS for Irrigation.

Five months later in July 2013, Gayatri Prajapati was elevated as the MoS (Independent Charge) and given mining department. In January 2014, Prajapati was given another promotion and made a cabinet rank minister in-charge of mining department.

TAINT OF CORRUPTION

One year later in January 2015, Lucknow-based activist Nutan Thakur moved the Lokayukta, for the second time in two months, with documentary proof sought under the RTI Act to register complaint against Gayatri Prajapati for amassing illegal wealth.

Other complainants, who had approached the Lokayukta in December 2014, withdrew their complaints saying that they did not have proof against Prajapati. Nutan stood firm.

Incidentally, Nutan's husband Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer, also had a run-in with the SP leadership. He accused Mulayam Singh Yadav of threatening him with dire consequences for his activism.

Nutan told the Lokayukta about a mining syndicate, which was allegedly headed by Gayatri Prajapati. Nutan Thakur also gave documentary details of companies allegedly floated by Prajapati after he became minister.

ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT ORDERS CBI PROBE

While, Lokayukta gave Gayatri Prajapati a clean chit in the case of disproportionate assets, the Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into illegal mining which he allegedly ran.

Akhilesh dropped him from the ministry after court's order amid rising friction in his family and the Samajwadi Party. Gayatri Prajapati was branded as Prateek Yadav--Mulayam Singh's second son--loyalist in the family.

The CBI inquiry is still on against alleged irregularities in the mining department under Gayatri Prajapati.

GAYATRI PRAJAPATI'S FAMILY

Nutan Thakur informed the Lokayukta office about the properties held by Prajapati's wife Maharaji, daughters Sudha and Ankita, sons Anurag and Anil. Assets were allegedly bought in their names after October 2013.

Gayatri Prajapati's son Anil is the director of Life Cure Medical Centre - a multi-specialty hospital at Pratapgarh in Amethi. Anil also heads Shuhag Exports Limited based at Indrajeet Kheda, Amethi and Decent Constructions based out of Amethi.

Nutan also gave details of properties that Prajapati allegedly bought in the names of his staff including drivers and domestic help.

The allegations of Nutan Thakur were substantiated by the Income Tax department's reply to the Lokayukta confirming that Gayatri Prajapati's driver acquired assets of worth Rs 77 lakh in two years without filing an IT return.

Prajapati allegedly also made his sons directors of nearly a dozen companies floated by him after he became minister in the Akhilesh government.

The list of companies includes MGA Hospitality, Kahana Build Well, MGA Colonisers, MSA Infra Venture, Daya Builders Private Limited, MSGA Enterprises, MGM Agro Tech, Excel Built Tech and MSG Realtors.

NOW, THE GANGRAPE CASE

While the election campaign was in full swing in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court ordered the police to file an FIR against Gayatri Prajapati and six others on the complaint of a woman.

The woman alleged that she was repeatedly gangraped and her minor daughter molested. According to her complaint, the gangrape was first committed in October 2014 and her ordeal continued till July 2016.

After the apex court order, Prajapati and six others were booked under the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on February 18.

While police have said that the UP Minister is hiding, Gayatri Prajapti cast his vote in Amethi, when it went to polls on February 27-- nine days after the rape case was registered against him.

Two days ago, the police issued an alert to all the airports asking the authorities not to let Gayatri Prajapati fly out of the country. His passport has been temporarily revoked and a non-bailable warrant has been issued against him.

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