Three more accomplices of absconding rape-accused minister Gayatri Prajapati have been arrested by the UP Police in connection with the case against the SP leader.
"Today's arrests were made from Hazratganj area in central Lucknow," IG (Lucknow) A Satish Ganesh told PTI.
With this, six people, named in the FIR against the 49-year-old SP leader, have been picked up.
Two of Prajapati’s aides were arrested from Noida near Jewar on the Yamuna Expressway on 7 March.
According to reports, Prajapati’s son and nephew have also been detained. Gayatri’s son, Anurag Prajapati, said he did not have any information about his whereabouts.
The minister's security guard, Chandrapal, was arrested on 6 March near the Lucknow Police lines.
Prajapati was booked on a Supreme Court directive and an FIR was lodged on 17 February 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.
UP Police plans to attached two properties of the minister in Lucknow and one in Amethi, his assembly constituency, to force him to surrender, SSP Lucknow Manzil Saini told PTI.
A look-out notice and a non-bailable warrant have been issued against the leader. His passport too has been impounded.
Earlier, airports across the country were alerted about the possibility of Prajapati trying to flee the country.
In the just-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapati lost from Amethi, the seat he held, to BJP.
(With inputs from PTI)
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