Tightening the noose around rape accused Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati, the Special Task Force (STF) of UP Police on Tuesday arrested three more accomplices of the controversial leader in connection with the case.
IG (Lucknow) A Satish Ganesh informed that the arrests were made in Hazratganj area in central Lucknow. Besides, officials are interrogating Prajapati’s two sons and nephew to get clues about his whereabouts.
With this, all the six persons named in the FIR against the 49-year-old SP leader have been picked up. Gayatri, however, continues to evade the police dragnet.
"Both UP Police and Special Task Force of the UP police are on the job and he will be nabbed soon," ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said.
Police are interrogating his two sons and nephew to get some inputs regarding his whereabouts, Senior Superintendent of Police (Lucknow) Manzil Saini said.
She said that the UP police plans to attached two properties of the minister in Lucknow and one in Amethi, his assembly constituency, to force him to surrender.
Earlier, Prajapati's two aides were arrested from Noida near Jewar on the Yamuna Expressway on March 7. The minister's security guard Chandrapal was arrested on March 6 near Lucknow Police lines.
Prajapati was booked on a Supreme Court directive and an FIR was lodged on February 17 against the minister and six others for allegedly gang-raping a woman and alleged attempt to rape her minor daughter.
The apex court had asked the UP Police to submit an action taken report regarding the incidents in eight weeks. A Look Out notice has already been issued against him as also a Non-Bailable Warrant. His passport too has been impounded.
Airports across the country have been alerted about the possibility of Prajapati trying to flee the country.
In the just-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapati lost to BJP from Amethi, the seat he held.
With PTI Inputs
