Ex-BJP MLA, 100 others booked for organising crowd in support of Hathras accused

Hathras, Uttar Pradesh: An FIR has been registered against former BJP MLA Rajveer Singh Pehelvan and 100 others for a meeting attended by scores of people here defying prohibitory orders.

The meeting was held outside Pehelvan's house on Sunday where they defended the accused in the alleged gangrape of a Dalit woman, who later died, and demanded registration of an FIR against her family members.

Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal said Tuesday, "An FIR has been lodged against former BJP MLA Rajveer Singh Pehelvan for organising a crowd on Sunday. We are probing the matter. The FIR has been lodged against Singh and over 100 unidentified people."

The FIR was lodged at Hathras Gate police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

When the SP was asked if there was any 'panchayat' to be held on Tuesday in Hathras, he said it was proposed but organisers cancelled it.

Hundreds of people had gathered at Singh's residence on Sunday where they welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to order a CBI probe into the Hathras incident.

"We welcome the CBI inquiry ordered by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. We have faith in the investigation," one of the organisers of the meeting had said, while claiming that the victim's family members were not consistent on their stand.

"The entire scenario has been created to blame the government. The accused persons are in favour of any type of inquiry. But the victims are changing their stand every now and then. They do not want a narco test or a CBI probe. Now they want other kinds of inquiries," he had claimed.

He had said that an FIR should be registered by police against the complainants in the case. "Our demand is that a case should be filed against those people who had filed the case in the first instance," he had said.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper caste men in Hathras on September 14. She died on September 29 at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital where she had been brought for treatment.