Kannauj minor’s rape: Accused ex-block pramukh’s bro surrenders in court

Kanpur: Neelu Yadav, the brother of former block pramukh Nawab Singh Yadav, who was on the run in the Kannauj rape case, surrendered in court on Tuesday morning. He was wanted by the police on the charge of pressuring the rape survivor's aunt to change her statement and affect the probe.

The police had deployed 12 teams to track him down and had recently announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information leading to his arrest. The Special Operation Group team had also been working tirelessly to arrest him.

Neelu is accused of tampering with evidence and giving false statements, along with the survivor's aunt, in the minor's rape case. After Nawab Singh's arrest and imprisonment, the police took the survivor's aunt into custody on Aug 21. During questioning, she disclosed that Neelu had instructed her not to have the minor medically examined and to falsely implicate certain individuals in the case, promising her Rs 10 lakh in return.

Following the aunt's statement, the police had initiated a search for Neelu, with a dozen teams pursuing him for two weeks.

On Monday, a forensic analysis report confirmed that the DNA sample collected from Nawab Singh Yadav, a former Samajwadi Party functionary, matched the sample obtained from the 15-year-old girl who accused him of rape.

The sexual assault had taken place on the intervening night of Aug 11 and 12. Yadav, also the administrator of a private educational institution in Kannauj, had allegedly raped the minor girl on the pretext of offering her a job. The minor had gone to meet him along with her paternal aunt, who is said to be complicit in the crime.

Yadav was arrested on Aug 12 after the survivor lodged an FIR against him. A team of doctors on Aug 16 had collected the DNA sample from Yadav following a court order. The sample was collected at the district jail and sent to FSL on Aug 17.

The survivor underwent a medical examination with her parents' consent that confirmed the rape. The girl's aunt was also arrested.

The case has sparked a political controversy, with BJP alleging that Yadav was an aide of Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav. The SP has, however, distanced itself from Yadav, saying he was no longer associated with the party.

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