Gayatri Prasad Prajapati is a former Indian politician belonging to the Samajwadi Party and a convicted criminal. He was convicted of rape, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation. In 2021 he was sentenced to 5yr jail by Allahabad High court. He was a former cabinet minister in the government of Uttar Pradesh and served as Minister of Transport. He also served as a mining minister.
Early life
Prajapati was born in a poor Kumhar family from Amethi. He established Gayadai College there.
Allegations
On a complaint filed by activist and advocate Nutan Thakur, Prajapati was under the Lokayukta scanner for corruption in illegal mining. [1] Later Nutan Thakur's husband ex IPS officer and Present, Adhikar Sena alleged that ex Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav threatened him for his wife's Lokayukta case against Prajapati. [2] Nutan Thakur also registered a criminal case against Prajapati for framing her and her husband in a false rape case, which is presently under trial before a Lucknow Court. [3] On 17 February 2017, the Supreme Court of India directed Uttar Pradesh police to lodge a complaint in connection with a rape case.
He was arrested in Lucknow on March 15, 2017 after an escape on February 27, 2017.[4]
In 2016 Allahabad High Court charged him with allowing illegal mining in his capacity of mining minister in Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharthnagar, Deoria, Kaushambi and Saharanpur - in violation of rules and ban by the National Green Tribunal.[5][6][7][8]
Rape
In February 2017, a woman from Chitrakoot, alleged that Prajapati had raped her three years previously. Prajapati reportedly took photos and continued to rape her for two years by threatening to leak the photos. He also falsely promised to give her an important position in Party.[9]
While the victim later filed a complaint, the Uttar Pradesh Police refused to file an FIR on the orders of Mulayam Singh Yadav. The woman then approached Supreme Court, which ordered the police to lodge a report. In February 2017 he was found to be absconding, but was arrested a month later in Lucknow.[10]
On 12 November 2021, Prajapati was sentenced to life by MP MLA court Lucknow.[11]
References
- ^ "From Rags to Riches, The Not-so-inspiring Story of Gayatri Prajapati". News 18.
- ^ "Rape case lodged against IPS officer Amitabh Thakur a day after filing complaint against Mulayam Singh". First Post.
- ^ "Prajapati's reprieve shortlived, sent to custody in new case". Millennium Post.
- ^ "SC Orders Filing Of FIR Against SP MLA Gayatri Prajapati". Timesnow.tv. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ The Daily Fix: CBI raids just after SP-BSP alliance raise further questions about its impartiality, Scroll.in, 7 January 2019.
- ^ CBI raids 12 places in UP, Delhi in connection with illegal sand mining (Archived 7 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine), Newsonair.com, 6 Jan 2019.
- ^ IAS officer, legislator among 14 raided by CBI in UP, Delhi, Hindustan Times, 5 Jan 2019.
- ^ Illegal sand mining case: CBI conducts raids in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, India Today, 5 January 2019.
- ^ "U.P. Minister Gayatri Prajapati arrested on rape charge". The Hindu. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ "sp-leader-gayatri-prajapati-arrested". HT.
- ^ "Gayatri Prajapati, former Akhilesh Yadav govt minister, gets jail for life in rape case".