The alleged victim's father died in judicial custody almost a week after he was reportedly thrashed by the MLA's brother and others.

The brother of a BJP MLA from Unnao was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death during judicial custody of the father of a minor girl who had accused the legislator of gang-raping her along with his accomplices last June. Atul Singh Sengar, the brother of Bangermau MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, was arrested early in the day by a team of Lucknow Crime Branch from his home district Unnao.

DIG of Police Praveen Kumar said the charges in the case will now include murder.

Special team formed

Meanwhile, a five-member Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the entire case and it will be directly monitored by ADG Zone Lucknow. Atul Sengar faces charges under culpable homicide not amounting to murder and is prima facie accused of assaulting the girl’s father along with his accomplices on April 3. As per a complaint by the victim’s side, Atul Sengar and his aides pulled out the rape victim’s father from his house in their native village in Unnao, verbally abused him and assaulted him after tying him to a tree to deter him from pursuing the gang-rape case.

Atul Sengar is also booked for rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, a police spokesperson said. The police had on Monday arrested four associates of Atul Sengar, identified as Baua, Vinit, Shailu and Sonu, after the minor’s father died in judicial custody. They had been identified in the FIR on April 4 but the police chose to only arrest the father, against whom the accused side filed a counter-FIR, though he had been grievously injured.

Died of shock

A three-member panel of doctors which conducted the post-mortem concluded that prima facie the 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,” said Unnao Chief Medical Officer S.P. Chaudhary. While Dr. Chaudhary said he was not competent to directly link the findings of the post-mortem to the assault, he told The Hindu the perforation in the colon of the victim was due to “an injury.” “Due to the injury, the colon developed a big hole and infection spread ,” the doctor said.

The doctor also clarified that on April 3, when the patient was first admitted after the assault, ultrasound and X-ray was conducted on him but his reports were normal. “It is possible that the perforation was a minor one and not detected then but grew later,” Mr. Chaudhary said.

If the patient’s reports were normal on April 3, questions arise then if he was later assaulted in police custody too.

As per the minor’s complaint, the MLA and his brother were intimidating the family to withdraw the gang-rape case and on April 3, her father was badly thrashed by the legislator’s brother Atul Sengar and his accomplices. Though both sides lodged complaints against each other, the police chose to arrest only her father, who was sent to judicial custody.

Late on Sunday, the minor’s father was rushed to the district hospital after he vomited and complained of abdominal pain. He died in the early hours of Monday.