BSP MLA accused of raping dalit girl arrested

Banda/Lucknow, Jan 13 (PTI) A month after he allegedlyraped a teenaged dalit girl, absconding ruling BSP MLAPurushottam Naresh Dwivedi was today arrested in Bandadistrict but the opposition dubbed it as "stage managed".

48-year-old Dwivedi, who represents Naraini seat inUttar Pradesh Assembly, was on the run after orders for hisarrest were issued yesterday in connection with the allegedcriminal assault on the 17-year-old girl belonging to thebackward community.

The legislator was arrested in Banda, about 220 kmsfrom here, police sources said.

"Ironically the MLA had been camping Lucknow for thepast two days meeting his BSP bosses when the state officialswere making an announcment that he would be arrested soon andwent into hiding soon after that," Vivek Singh, Congress MLA,claimed in Banda.

Sources claimed the MLA was arrested from Augasibridge and later brought to the Kotwali Dehat and would beproduced in the court tomorrow.

Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava alleged thatDwivedi was being shielded by Mayawati government and it wasonly because of pressure from visits by the delegations fromDelhi including the National Commission for Women that thestate government was forced to arrest the legislator.

The girl was allegedly raped on December 10-11 at thelegislators''s residence. She escaped from the MLA''s house onDecember 12 when the MLA allegedly attempted rape for thethird time and was arrested same day on theft charges.

She told her brother about the incident when she wasproduced before the court on December 24 in connection withtheft charges.

Girl levelled the rape charge before the court onJanuary 10 and it ordered immediate action.

CB-CID submitted a preliminary report andsubsequently the state government yesterday ordered arrest ofthe MLA and an FIR was lodged against him.

His two aides --Rajendra Shukla and Surendra Neta--were arrested in Banda district yesterday following an FIRagainst them and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 daysby a Banda court. The third accused Ravan Garg is stillabsconding. .