Badaun rape case: CBI may recommend action against UP cops

CBI may recommend disciplinary action against Uttar Pradesh police officers who probed Badaun rape and murder case for apparently carrying out a "shoddy investigation".

The agency may not even oppose the bail plea of the five accused, who have been in custody for over last two months, as circumstantial and technical evidence collected so far indicates that they do not have any direct role in the alleged rape and murder of two teenage sisters, CBI sources said.

The sources said prima facie it seems that the content of the FIR do not conform with the initial findings of the agency and that the accused persons were unnecessarily "harassed" by the investigating team of UP Police.

They further said that some more material evidence is awaited and if that supports the case of the accused, the agency may not oppose their bail applications.
"It is not fair to keep innocent people under custody. We are looking into the case and if some more material evidence goes in their favour, we may not oppose their bail plea," a senior official said.

The change in CBI stand comes after it received the reports of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), which conducted three important tests -- forensic psychological assessment, forensic statement analysis and polygraph (lie-detector) test.

The sources said that these tests were done to check the authenticity of the statements given by the five accused -- Pappu, Awadhesh and Urvesh Yadav (brothers) and constables Chhatrapal Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav -- that they were not involved in the alleged rape and murder case.

The two teenage girls, cousins aged 14 and 15 years, were allegedly gang-raped and murdered with their bodies found hanging from a mango tree a day after they went missing on May 27, in a village in the Ushait area of Badaun.