Airports On Alert For Rape-Accused UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati, Missing For Days

New Delhi: Amid reports that Gayatri Prajapati, the Uttar Pradesh minister facing arrest for rape, is planning to fly abroad, airports and exit points are on alert, official sources said today.

Mr Prajapati, 49, has been charged with raping a woman and also attacking her young daughter.

"They tried to rape me and held my mother tight as she kept crying and pleaded with them to stop. They threatened her before setting me free," the rape survivor's daughter had said on Wednesday.

According to sources, intelligence agencies have information that the controversial minister, who is also contesting the UP election as a candidate of the ruling Samajwadi Party, is planning to leave the country to escape arrest.

Security agencies have been informed and orders for an alert have been issued at all airports and points from where people can leave the country, said sources.

Mr Prajapati has been missing for almost a week and has moved the Supreme Court for protection from arrest. His petition is likely to be heard on Monday.
 Earlier this week, the police said he could not be found during searches at his homes in Lucknow and other places.

Mr Prajapati was last seen campaigning in Amethi, where he is contesting the election.

The minister has become a huge embarrassment to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has been targeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Mr Yadav, asked by NDTV on the missing minister, said, "What I can say is that because the Supreme Court has issued him a notice, the government will cooperate in every way possible. Even I want the truth to come out."
 He added, "In a democracy, in some circumstances you are forced to give some people a ticket. I have tried my best to keep the party clean. At least let the case be heard."

An FIR or police complaint was registered against Mr Prajapati only when a woman who has alleged gang-rape by the minister and a few others went to the Supreme Court.

The woman has alleged that she wrote to the state police chief in October when there were attempts to rape her daughter, but there was no response, and that is when she moved court.

Mr Yadav sacked Mr Prajapati last year over corruption charges in the middle of his raging feud with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav, but was later forced to bring him back.