A special court in Lucknow sentenced former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and two others to life imprisonment in a rape case.
Special Judge PK Rai on Wednesday convicted Prajapati and two others in the gang-rape of a woman and attempt to rape her minor daughter.
The judge in its order stated that the prosecution had proven the charges against the trio beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court, however, acquitted four other accused in the case — Vikas Verma, Roopeshwar, Amrendra Singh alias Pintu, and Chandrapal — due to a lack of evidence against them.
A key member of Akhilesh Yadav’s Cabinet, holding portfolios of the transport and mining ministries, Prajapati was arrested in March 2017 on charges of raping the woman besides trying to rape her minor daughter.
The FIR against the minister was registered at the Gautampalli police station on the directions of the Supreme Court, which gave its order on the woman’s plea against the police inaction over her complaint.
After the registration of the FIR on February 18, 2017, the minister was arrested in March and had been in jail since then.
The woman had claimed that the minister and his accomplices have been raping her since October 2014.
She decided to complain against them after the accused tried to molest and rape her minor daughter in July 2016.
The two others sentenced along with Prajapati are Ashish Shukla and Ashok Tiwari.