Unnao rape case convict and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar was acquitted by a Delhi court on Monday in a 2019 case in which the complainant met with an accident, reported Bar and Bench. The court also acquitted five other accused in the case.

In January last year, Sengar was convicted and sentenced for life for raping the woman in 2017. She was a minor when assaulted.

In July 2019, the woman and her lawyer were severely injured in a car crash. Her family had alleged Sengar was behind the accident. Two of the woman’s relatives, one of whom was a witness in the rape case, were killed in the accident.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had taken over the case after the Uttar Pradesh Police filed a murder case against Sengar and nine others in connection with the accident. In its investigation, the CBI had concluded that there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy between those named in the first information report.

At Monday’s hearing, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey held that there was no prima facie evidence against Sengar and five other accused.

In its verdict, the court noted that Sengar was in judicial custody when the accident happened, and the prosecution has claimed he had conspired with other accused persons to threaten the woman and her family.

“However, no evidence of any nature regarding criminal conspiracy apart from oral statement of the complainant and his family members is produced or attached with the court record,” the verdict order stated.

However, the court said that there was a prima facie case against the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident. The driver has been charged under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) read with Section 279 (rash driving on public way) of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier in March 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a separate case related to the death of the father of the complainant.

The woman’s father was arrested in an illegal arms case in April 2018. It was later found that he had been framed in the case. He died in judicial custody in Unnao on April 9, 2018, a day after his daughter attempted to kill herself outside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath’s house as no action had been taken against Sengar till then.

Later, a murder case was filed against Sengar, his brother and nine others.