UP MLA's kin held in gang-rape case of Varanasi singer

A relative of an Uttar Pradesh MLA was arrested here on Monday for allegedly raping a Varanasi-based singer, police said.

UP MLA Vijay Mishra’s relative Vikas Mishra was arrested in the case lodged by the singer on October 18, accusing the duo besides the MLA’s son Vishnu Mishra of raping her, Bhadohi’s Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh said.

Mishra was produced before the district’s chief judicial magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody for the next 14 days, the SP said.

Vijay Mishra is a sitting MLA in the Uttar Pradesh assembly from NISHAD (Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal) party. He was earlier arrested from Madhya Pradesh in a land grabbing case and is currently lodged in Agra Jail, the SP added.

About the rape case lodged against him, the SP had earlier said the singer had alleged in her FIR, lodged at the Gopiganj police station Bhadohi, that she was raped repeatedly by the MLA between 2014 and 2015.

According to the SP, the singer had alleged that in 2014, Mishra had called her to his house for a programme when he raped her and threatened to kill her if she ever spoke up about the incident.

She had also alleged that in 2015, the MLA raped her at a hotel in Varanasi, the SP had said.

The singer had also claimed once after raping her, Mishra told his son and nephew to drop her home but both of them allegedly raped her before taking her back.