Madhav Prasad Verma said he was moved to Unnao as its Superintendent of Police in February.
The Unnao Superintendent of Police today admitted that the family of a teenager who was allegedly raped by a local BJP lawmaker in 2017 had lodged at least 25 complaints with his department over the last one year, but said he didn't get a chance to study them all because he was moved to the district barely five months ago.
"Not 35, they filed around 25-26 complaints or so," Superintendent of Police Madhav Prasad Verma told mediapersons today. "As far as I know, the complaints are still being studied. But none of them seem to contain any request for protection. If any such thing is found, we will launch an investigation."
The complaints lodged by the Unnao rape survivor's family gain significance in the light of a recent road accident in which she was critically injured. Her family has alleged that the accident was planned by the main accused, jailed BJP legislator Kuldeep Sengar, to get back at her for lodging a case against him.
Mr Verma said he was not able to go through all the complaints because he was moved to Unnao only in February-end. "There were complaints and they are being looked at. An investigation will be launched," he told mediapersons before moving on.
The 19-year-old rape survivor was travelling from Unnao to Raebareli on Sunday along with two aunts and her lawyer when a truck with its number plate blacked out rammed their car. While she and the lawyer were critically injured, the other two died. The driver as well as the owner of the truck have been arrested, and the investigation in the case transferred to the CBI.
The teenager has accused Kuldeep Sengar of sexually assaulting her when she went to his Unnao home for a job in June 2017. He was arrested last April, days after the rape survivor threatened to set herself ablaze in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home in Lucknow if the police didn't file a complaint. The teen apparently took the desperate act after her father was thrashed by Kuldeep Sengar's brother and then arrested in a critical state on charges of carrying weapons. The father died in custody the day after she went public, provoking massive public outrage.
Over 15 days before the road accident, the rape surivivor had also written a letter to the Chief Justice of India claiming that they faced grave danger to their lives. The Supreme Court has sought a status report on the case from its Secretary General, and will take it up tomorrow. "I have not yet seen the letter. It is yet to be placed before me," Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, adding that he was informed about the letter only on Tuesday.
The teenager's letter to the Chief Justice reportedly related several incidents that occurred between July 7 and 8, when some people allegedly associated with Kuldeep Sengar threatened the survivor's family. The letter also requested the court to ask the police to file a case against the people who allegedly tried to intimidate them.