Woman who accused SP MLA of rape found dead

Lucknow: A 22-year-old woman, who had accused Samajwadi Party MLA Arun Verma of raping her along with some other youth in 2013, was found murdered near her house in Sultanpur, police said today.

The body of the woman, who was missing since Saturday, was found yesterday near a primary school in Jaisinghpur, they said. An FIR has been registered in this regard.

Police said the injury mark around her neck suggested that she was strangled to death. The body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.

The woman had alleged that the local MLA, who is also the SP’s Sultanpur candidate for the February 27 polls, and some others had gangraped her in September 2013.

At one stage, the woman had withdrawn her allegation and some local youths were charge sheeted in the police investigation. The trial in the case is still continuing.

Police is probing the matter and going through call records of the woman.