Leading newspaper The Times of India’s news article titled “CBI confirms rape charge against Unnao MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar” falsely reported that the charges against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar have been confirmed. Following suit, many media houses ran similar stories.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued a formal clarification, stating that investigation in the three cases relating to alleged rape and violence is still going on and CBI has not issued any update or conclusion on this.

CBI

The report by TOI said that the CBI probe in the Unnao gang-rape case has “corroborated the survivor’s charge that BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar raped her at his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Makhi village on June 4 last year.”

The English daily claimed that a source from the agency confirmed the news and said that the girl was raped by BJP MLA after she was brought to Sengar’s house by Shashi Singh on the pretext of providing her with a job and that from June 11 to June 19, the girl was repeatedly gang-raped. The quote by the alleged source in the TOI article read, “The girl was raped on June 4 by the MLA after she was brought to his house by Shashi Singh on the pretext of providing her with a job. Between June 4 and June 10, the girl didn’t speak as she had been threatened. On June 11, she was abducted by three persons — Shubham Singh, Awadh Narayan and Brijesh Yadav. From June 11 till 19, the girl was kept mostly in an SUV and repeatedly gang-raped by these three while on the move.