india

Updated: Jun 08, 2020 22:37 IST

A day after the Supreme Court set a maximum two week deadline for the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to probe the Rae Bareli road crash involving the Unnao rape survivor, the probe agency announced a special team of around 20 investigators to aid in the investigations on Friday.

The special team will include superintendent of police, additional superintendent of police, deputy superintendent of police, inspector and sub-inspector level officers. CBI had registered FIR in the accident case on July 30.

CBI has been asked by the Supreme Court to finish its investigations, in the road crash that fatally injured Unnao Rape survivor and killed an alleged witness of her rape case, within a week and said the deadline could be extended by another seven days only in exceptional circumstances if the court permits.

The agency has to probe if the allegations, that the July 28 accident was a result of conspiracy by former BJP MLA and rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar to silence the rape survivor and others, were true.

A six-member Central Forensic Science Laboratory team had left for the location of the accident informed the CBI spokesperson. Investigation in the case will be conducted in the light of the direction of Supreme Court, he added.

The Supreme Court on Friday halted implementation of its order to transfer the Unnao rape survivor’s car crash case to Delhi after the Central Bureau of Investigation told the judges that it had complicated the agency’s efforts for custodial interrogation of the expelled BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar and other accused.

The CBI, which was Thursday given a seven-day deadline to probe the car crash, had approached a Lucknow court to seek the influential lawmaker’s custody. But the UP judge turned them back, pointing to the Supreme Court’s orders to transfer the trial to Delhi, an official at the federal investigating agency said.

Yesterday, the judges had ordered the transfer to Delhi all five cases linked to the 2017 Unnao gang-rape, in which legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar is the main accused, and ruled that the trials be completed within 45 days of commencement.

The rape accusation hit headlines after the survivor attempted self-immolation in front of the house of Adityanath on April 8, 2018, following which Sengar was arrested. Her father died in judicial custody where he was sent for alleged illegal possession of arms — the family alleged he had been framed — after suffering severe injuries in an assault blamed on Sengar’s brother and his men.

A CBI court in Lucknow will resume hearing on Saturday on the agency’s request to interrogate truck driver Ashish Pal and cleaner Mohan by taking them into its custody. Both of them were sent to seven-day judicial remand on Friday.