Key witness in Unnao gang rape case had died in mysterious circumstances

The gang-rape survivor’s uncle had said Mohammed Yunus, 32, was the key witness in the attack on the survivor’s father, who later succumbed to his injuries in judicial custody. (Getty Images )

A key witness in the attack on the gang- rape survivor’s father died at his Unnao residence on August 18, 2018.

The survivor’s uncle, who is presently lodged in Rae Bareli jail, had cast doubt about the manner of the witness’s death. But the police claimed that the witness’s family stated that he died due to illness.

The gang-rape survivor’s uncle had said Mohammed Yunus, 32, was the key witness in the attack on the survivor’s father, who later succumbed to his injuries in judicial custody when he was sent to jail by the local police after being implicated in a fake case of possession of illegal firearms.

He had alleged that locals in Yunus’s village had expressed the suspicion that he was eliminated to help the jailed BJP MLA, his brother Atul Singh Sengar and their aides.

Yunus ran a grocery shop at the same intersection in the Makhi area where the survivor’s father was attacked by the lawmaker’s brother and his aides on April 3, 2018.

He said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had recorded Yunus’s statement and made him the key witness in the case against the MLA and his aides.

First Published: Jul 29, 2019 12:32 IST