a neighbour to seek his help in getting a job in June 2017.

This was followed by two years of ordeal that saw the girl going missing for almost 10 days, accusing police of not letting her name the MLA in her complaint, her father being beaten up and dying in custody and a key witness dying in 2018.

Read: ‘How will you ensure justice?’ Student’s poser to UP cop on Unnao case

The case was finally handed over to the CBI in 2018 and it booked Sengar, his brother and five others in the case.

In the past few weeks, preceding the rape survivor’s road accident, she and her family had written several letters to the police, CBI, government officials and the CJI alleging threat to life from the MLA. Theyaccused the MLA and his henchmen of intimidating them and asking them to withdraw the case.

Even as #Unnaocase trended on Twitter, BJP leaders largely kept silent on the influential MLA. Sengar’s political clout is such that soon after winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj had visited the Sitapur jail to meet and “thank” the lawmaker.

After winning on a BSP ticket in 2002, Sengar won two successive polls (2007, 2012) on Samajwadi Party ticket before joining the BJP ahead of the 2017 UP polls and winning his fourth term as lawmaker from Bangarmau, Unnao. What’s more, he won three of the four assembly polls from different assembly seats of Unnao-- he won his first election in 2002 on BSP ticket from Unnao (sadar) seat;