Rape case: Sitapur MP’s voice sample test on March 4

The voice sample of Congress MP from Sitapur Rakesh Rathore, who is in jail on rape charges, will be examined at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Mahanagar in Lucknow, on Tuesday to ascertain that it is his voice in a recorded telephonic conversation presented by the 45-year-old rape survivor to prove her charges against him, said senior police officials on Sunday.

Earlier, the Sitapur police had lodged an FIR of rape against Rathore on the complaint of the woman, who was once close to the MP, accusing him of raping her multiple times in the past four years on the promise of marrying her and building her political career.

The FIR was lodged with Sitapur City Kotwali under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 64 for rape, 351 (3) for criminal intimidation and 327 (2) for threatening using a firearm on January 17. The woman has presented the recorded telephonic conversation between her and the accused in which the latter was purportedly heard trying to convince the woman to not approach the police.

Inspector in-charge, Sitapur City Kotwali, Anoop Shukla confirmed that the FSL had granted them a date of March 4 to carry out voice sampling test of the MP.

“We had applied in the second week of February and are waiting for the reply from the FSL in the matter. The notice regarding the voice sampling date was submitted to the Sitapur jail authorities on Saturday evening after procuring its permission from the competent court. The MP will be taken to the FSL in Lucknow on Tuesday for the voice sampling test,” he added.

The inspector said although the MP had admitted that it was his voice in the recorded telephonic conversation that the complainant had presented before the police as evidence in support of her allegations, voice sample test will be carried out to authenticate things while filing chargesheet and later for the court trial.

The MP is lodged in jail after he was arrested from his Sitapur residence on January 30 after remaining elusive for around 2 weeks. In between, another FIR of issuing threat to the rape survivor’s family was registered against the MP and his woman aide Reshma Khatoon with Sitapur City Kotwali police station on February 14.

The second FIR was registered on the complaint of the rape survivor’s husband accusing the MP of continuously issuing threats to his family to turn hostile in the rape case lodged against him or be ready to face the consequences.

The complainant mentioned in the application that a woman named Reshma Khatoon visited his house on February 5 and issued threat with dire consequences if they did not take back their allegations against the MP.

Similar threats through different people and medium have allegedly been regularly issued to his family members at the behest of the MP who is an influential person in the region.