Former 'block pramukh' held for rape attempt on minor in UP's Kannauj; BJP attacks Samajwadi Party

Kannauj (UP), August 12

A former “block pramukh” was arrested for allegedly trying to rape a 15-year-old girl here on Monday, according to police. The ruling BJP alleged that the accused, Nawab Singh Yadav, had been a close aide of SP leader Dimple Yadav when she was the Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj but the Samajwadi Party distanced itself from him.

Kannauj Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Anand said police teams responded to a call on the emergency helpline 112 and arrested the accused from the premises of a private college.

“At around 1.30 am, a call was received at the UP 112 service in which the girl alleged that she was undressed and a rape attempt was made at her,” he said.

Accused Nawab Singh Yadav is the manager of a private college. He had called the girl and her aunt to the college Sunday night on the pretext of helping the girl get a job, the police said.

In her complaint, the girl said Yadav tried to force himself on her when her aunt had gone to the bathroom. But once she came back and saw Yadav in his innerwear, they immediately called 112, according to the police.

“Taking cognisance of the call, the local police and PRV (police response vehicle) teams immediately reached the spot. The girl was rescued and the accused, who was in an objectionable condition, was taken into custody,” SP Anand said.

“On the basis of the complaint, an FIR has been lodged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act.

“The accused has been arrested and further legal proceedings are underway,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, launching a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party, the BJP sought to equate the Kannauj incident with the recent Ayodhya case in which Moid Khan who allegedly had SP links was arrested in connection with the gangrape of a 12-year-old who had become pregnant.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “Nawab Singh Yadav is not a small leader of SP but he has been MP Dimple Yadav's representative.”    BJP IT department head Amit Malviya shared a purported video of the accused being arrested by police personnel.

“Even after this video, will Akhilesh Yadav defend his associate Nawab Singh Yadav?... Will Akhilesh Yadav still demand a DNA test?” Malviya said in his posts on X.

When contacted, Samajwadi Party's Kannauj unit president Kaleem Khan said accused Yadav at present is not a member of the party.

“It's his individual matter and the Samajwadi Party has nothing to do with it,” Khan added.

He said, “Yadav was involved in anti-party activities for about five years. He is not even a primary or active member of the Samajwadi Party, yet you are defaming the party by calling him a member of Samajwadi Party under a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the party.”

“All of you are requested that Nawab Singh Yadav, son of Chandan Singh Yadav, resident of Adangapur in Kannauj is not a member of Samajwadi Party in any way nor should he be linked with the name of the party,” Khan said in a statement.

But the BJP alleged that these incidents have exposed the real face of the SP.

“After Ayodhya, now in Kannauj also SP leader was arrested for attempting to rape a minor. Accused Nawab Singh Yadav was called mini CM during the SP government.

“Nawab Singh Yadav is known as Dimple Yadav's right hand and MP representative in Kannauj,” Malviya alleged.

The Samajwadi Party has always “covered up such crimes under the policy that boys are boys and they make mistakes ('ladke hai, ladko se galti ho jaati hai). First, it was Moid Khan of Ayodhya and Nawab Yadav of Kannauj. This is the real character of the SP,” Tripathi said.

Earlier on July 30, the police in UP's Ayodhya district arrested Moid Khan, who ran a bakery in Ayodhya district's Bhadarsa Nagar, and his employee Raju Khan, in connection with the rape of a minor girl.

In a statement in the Assembly on August 1, UP CM Yogi Adityanath said, “Moid Khan is from the Samajwadi Party and is a member of the Ayodhya (Faizabad) MP's team. He has been found involved in the rape of a 12-year-old girl. The Samajwadi Party has not taken any action against him.”

Reacting to the case, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the BJP was rattled after its defeat in Lok Sabha elections, especially in Ayodhya. His statement demanding a DNA test of the accused had drawn flak from the BJP and the BSP.