Rajasthan minister Babu Lal Nagar booked for rape: state govt recommends CBI probe

Jaipur: Five days after a 35-year-old woman accused Rajasthan's dairy minister Babu Lal Nagar of raping her, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asked for a Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI inquiry into the case.

The request delays what appeared to be Mr Nagar's imminent arrest after the woman deposed before a court alleging rape and assault. Mr Nagar resigned on Thursday as part of a damage control measure three months ahead of the state Assembly elections.

Unti the CBI takes over, the case is being investigated by the state's Crime Investigations Department or CID, which questioned Mr Nagar and his employees yesterday at his official residence in the Civil Lines area of Jaipur.

The woman's clothes, preserved since the day of the assault, have been sent for forensic investigation.

Appearing to evade the investigation, Mr Nagar chose not to respond to a notice which asked him to undergo a medical examination. The CID has now issued another letter asking him to make himself available for the test. Officials and workers at his residence have also been asked to be present for questioning.

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The woman had alleged that the minister, who had helped her in the past, called her to his house on September 11, promising to get her a job. She said the minister took her into a bedroom and raped her, adding that the politician then warned that he would have her killed "like Bhanwari Devi," a nurse whose death in January last year led to the arrest of two Congress leaders.

The police, accused of delaying action, finally interrogated the 53-year-old minister on September 18, two days after booking him for rape and assault.

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The woman has alleged she received threats on the phone, allegedly from the minister's supporters. On Tuesday night, she spent hours in a narrow lane behind her home, hiding from cars she said had been sent to spy on her.