Uttar Pradesh SP, BSP district chiefs among seven held for 17-year-old girl's rape

Lalitpur: Seven people, including the district presidents of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, have so far been arrested in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl here, police said on Saturday. The Samajwadi Party (SP) said it has dissolved its Lalitpur district unit. Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak said the arrests were made following the girl’s complaint that she was raped for five years in different parts of the city. She named 25 people in her complaint along with three unknown persons, Pathak said. A case was registered at Sadar Kotwali police station on 12 October against 25 people — including the survivor’s father and her uncle — and three unknown persons. The official said a hotel in Mirzapur district was raided on Friday from where Tilak Yadav and Deepak Ahirvar, the SP and the BSP district chiefs of Lalitpur respectively, and an engineer named Mahendra Dubey were arrested. The three were produced before a local court, which sent them to a 14-day judicial custody. Earlier, four people were arrested in connection with the case. In a statement issued in Lucknow, SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the entire Lalitpur district unit of the party has been dissolved with immediate effect on the directions of party chief Akhilesh Yadav.