BSP Ghosi nominee booked for rape

VARANASI: Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP ) candidate from Ghosi parliamentary constituency in Mau district , Atul Rai, was booked for the rape a 30-year-old woman in Varanasi on Thursday. The rape survivor, a native of Ballia , was sexually assaulted in an apartment in Varanasi.


Rai swiftly dismissed these allegations and claimed the woman was trying to blackmail him.

"I have registered a FIR against her with Ballia police on April 28, but the case was registered on May 1," he told TOI. He claimed he was busy campaigning and demanded a judicial probe into the allegations.

The FIR against the BSP candidate at Lanka police station includes charges of rape, intentional insult with intent to breach peace, criminal intimidation and cheating.

I was forced to sleep with BSP leaders: Rape survivor

The FIR was lodged on basis of a written complaint filed by the woman in which she alleged repeated rape, filming of the crime scene and threats by Rai to make the video public,” said incharge of Lanka police station Inspector Bharat Bhushan.

Police said, the woman first met Rai in 2015 and has been in touch with him. In her complaint, the rape survivor alleged Rai called her to his flat in Chitaipur locality of Varanasi in March 2018 to introduce her to his wife, where he raped her and made a video. After repeated assaults, she was forced to sleep with other BSP leaders, the rape survivor claimed. Earlier, she narrated her ordeal on Facebook and sought help and legal action against Rai.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Varanasi, Anand Kulkarni, said investigations were underway. “Police are collecting evidence. We will initiate action after the rape survivor records her statement before a magistrate,” Kulkarni told TOI.