Unnao probe: After SC deadline, CBI assigns 20 additional officers

New Delhi: A day after the Supreme Court of India directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to complete the Unnao victim's accident probe and file a charge sheet in a fortnight, the central probe agency has stepped up efforts, pouring in extensive resources to investigate the incident.

The CBI has constituted an additional special team of around 20, comprising of officers from the sub-inspector level to the Superintendent of Police level. According to officials, this team will be assisting the five-member team from Lucknow that is already probing the case.

In addition to this, a six-member team of "top experts" of different fields from the CBI's Central Forensic Science Laboratories also reached the spot of the accident.

Sources in the agency said that CBI officials on Friday also visited the accident spot to recreate the scene of the incident as part of their investigation into the case.

Moreover, the probe agency also moved an application seeking custodial interrogation of MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in connection with the accident of the Unnao rape victim.

While the four main Unnao cases have been transferred to a Delhi court, the Apex court ruled on Friday that the accident case must remain with a Lucknow court for the next 15 days, till CBI's probe is complete as they would need a trial court's permission to interrogate suspects.

Speaking to the Millennium Post, a source said agency officials would soon question the truck driver Ashish Pal and his cleaner to find out where the truck originated from and who had asked them to carry their consignment through that route.

A car in which the Unnao rape survivor, her family and lawyer were travelling was hit by an over-speeding truck in Raebareli on Sunday, killing two members, leaving her and the advocate critically injured. The truck's number plates were blackened.

The Apex court had on Thursday, ordered the Uttar Pradesh Government to pay Rs 25 lakh in compensation to the 19-year-old woman, who remains in critical condition at the KGMU Hospital in Lucknow.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had also said at the hearing that the rape victim and her lawyer, both of whom are critical should be airlifted to AIIMS here, if the family wanted to do so, provided they are medically in a condition to be moved to the Capital.

However, on Friday, the rape victim's mother had told the Supreme Court that her daughter was still critical and that it was not needed to airlift her from the Lucknow hospital.

"So far as the movement of the victim is concerned since the family wants treatment at Lucknow, we will wait... immediate concern is the health of the victim," CJI Gogoi said.