Lookout alert issued across airports for Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati

The FIR was filed recently following a directive of the Supreme Court after the alleged victim woman approached it.

Samajwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav addressing the media and party workers at party office in Lucknow. Sacked Minister Gayatri Prajapati is seen on the left. (File | PTI)

LUCKNOW: As tainted Samajwadi Party minister and gang rape accused Gayatri Prajapati manages to elude the police net, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav assured all cooperation in nabbing the minister as soon as possible as he has been on the run since Monday morning.

“State police machinery is making all out efforts to nab the absconding minister and hopefully he will be arrested soon,” said the Chief Minister responding to a query at a press conference in state capital on Friday.

When his attention was drawn to the tweet by state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya that Prajapati has been hiding in the Chief Minister’s house, Akhilesh asked the mediapersons to follow him with their cameras to check for themselves.

“The chief minister has hidden Gayatri Prajati in his residence and the police is enacting the drama of carrying out raids to arrest him,” state unit president of the BJP Keshav Prasad Maurya had claimed.
The BJP leader alleged that Akhilesh had become a patron of big criminals in the state, adding that CM’s house should not be allowed to become a “haven for criminals”.

Senior BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak also charged the chief minister with campaigning for the gangrape accused and describing him as a capable leader before people. Besides, another minister Azam Khan had described the rape case as a conspiracy, he said.

Prajapati and some of his aides have been accused of gang-raping a woman and molesting his daughter. The victims had knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court, on whose directive an FIR has been registered by the UP Police against the ruling Samajwadi Party politician.

However, Prajapati continues to be elusive. Six teams of Lucknow police have been carrying out searches at all his suspected hideouts in Amethi for the last two days without any result.

His close aides are being continuously monitored through electronic surveillance, says SSP Lucknow Manzil Saini who is hopeful of an early breakthrough.

Airports across the country have been alerted about the possibility of UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati, accused of rape, trying to flee the country.

A Letter of Cancellation (LC) will soon be opened against him and all airports have been alerted to prevent the 49-year-old Prajapati from fleeing the country, official sources said.

A letter of cancellation is a technical term used for alerting immigration authorities about any possible move by a suspect to leave the country.

Whenever passport of the suspect comes for immigration clearance at any exit point of the country, the computer screen warns the official to not let the person leave.

The Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB), guarding Uttar Pradesh’s border with Nepal, has also been alerted about the possibility of such a move by Prajapati.
The last time Prajapati was seen in public was on February 27, when he spoke to the media saying he will win with a huge margin and will work under Akhilesh once again.