Another BJP lawmaker faces rape allegation

In what could prove to be a huge embarrassment for the saffron party, another Uttar Pradesh BJP legislator has been accused of rape.

A widow has lodged a complaint with the police in UP's Bhadohi district, about 250 kilometres from here, accusing BJP lawmaker Ravindra Nath Tripathi and six others, all members of his family, of raping her repeatedly.

The victim, in her complaint, alleged that the MLA had raped her at a hotel in Bhadohi town two years back. She said that she had refrained from lodging a complaint then as the nephew of the MLA, who had also sexually exploited her, promised to marry her and asked her to keep quiet.

The victim said that she had met MLA's nephew Sandeep Tripathi in 2017 while she was travelling by train to Mumbai. The two exchanged cell numbers and spoke frequently.

She said that Sandeep sexually exploited her on the pretext of marrying her. ''Sandeep brought me to Bhadohi and put me up at a hotel....the MLA raped me there,'' the victim alleged.

She said that five other members of the MLA's family also raped her at the hotel room. ''I had told Sandeep about it but he asked me to keep quiet and assured that he would soon marry me,'' she said.

The victim said that Sandeep later refused to marry her and threatened to get her killed.

Tripathi, however, denied the allegations and termed them ''political conspiracy'' hatched by his rivals.

Police officials said that an investigation had been launched into the charges.

Tripathi was the second BJP lawmaker to have faced rape allegation. Earlier saffron party MLA from Unnao Kuldeep Singh Senger had been accused of raping a minor. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court in December last year.