Kishore Samrite, former Samajwadi Party leader from Madhya Pradesh, very well known for dragging former AICC President Rahul Gandhi for allegedly raping Sukanya, a daughter of a Congress worker in Amethi, along with seven others, in Lucknow High Court and Supreme Court.
The apex court had dismissed the case, but kept it open for the investigating agencies to know Sukanya and her family’s whereabouts, who went missing, after they met Human Rights Commission officials and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi.
In an interview with India Speaks Daily Founding Editor-in-Chief Sandeep Deo, Samrite throws light on how SP leaders including Mulayam Singh Yadav had used him as a pawn in the case to strike a deal with Congress to escape the iron hands of the law.
Samrite also revealed CBI officials’ desperation to drag the names of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah into Sukanya rape case.
Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Sandeep Deo: Can you please tell us what happened at the guest house in Amethi?
Kishore Samrite: On 3 December 2006, Rahul Gandhi had visited Amethi along with seven others including four foreigners – two from Britain and other two from Italy.
At around 9 pm, while Rahul was partying with his foreign friends at a VIP Guest House in a high security zone in Amethi, they had an uninvited guest, a 24-year-old Sukanya Devi, daughter of Congress worker Balram Singh who was a staunch supporter of Nehru-Gandhi family.
The news became public after Sukanya and her mother went to file complaint against Rahul Gandhiand his friends in the police headquarters, but the inspector had refused to register complaint against Rahul Gandhi and asked them to remain silent and leave the place immediately.
Sumitra Devi, the mother of Sukanya, had held a press conference, but media was advised not to cover the story or give any publicity to the issue. After which only 2-3 media people are said to have recorded her statement while most mainstream media refused to publish the story.
The Congress Party workers have said to have assaulted Sukanya’s mother for going public, but she did not remain quiet and she is said to have approached Sonia Gandhi on 27 December 2006, she had refused to meet her. With no options left, she went to the Human Rights Commission who just noted down her complaint and asked her to leave.
She also made a desperate attempt to meet the President of India and Chief Justice of India, but her efforts went in vain as no person gave her appointment.
Ever since then, Sukanya and her family is missing. There is no information about their whereabouts. Her father who was a Congress worker also went missing few days after the incident.
I filed a case against Rahul Gandhi in Allahabad High Court for raping Sukanya and illegally detaining her since 2007, but the charges could not be proved as I could not find her and her family for registering a statement.
The court had ordered a probe against me for filing the case and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh for defaming Rahul.
However, the case against me was dismissed by the Supreme Court and said it could not be proceeded due to lack of evidence.
The apex court also said the deposition of three persons claiming to be Sukanya, Balram Singh and Sumitra Devi are fake.
Sandeep Deo: What evidence did you furnish to make a case against Rahul Gandhi?
Kishore Samrite: As you are well aware that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidamabaram had tried to trap Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family in disproportionate assets case to get their party’s support for passing nuke deal in the Parliament.
The family was under the threat of being impriosoned. In this backdrop, Akhilesh and I met at 138 Pendhara Park. In the meeting, he furnished me with documents concerning Rahul Gandhi and asked to work on it. Therefore, I moved the Lucknow High Court, which issued notice seeking deposition of Sukanya and her family before it.
In a week’s time, Gajendra Pal Singh, who claimed to be a relative of Sukanya, produced fake persons claiming to be Sukanya and her family members. Based on this deposition, the court imposed Rs 50 lakh penalty and ordered a CBI probe against me to making an effort to defame a high profile personality.
Thereafter, I moved the Supreme Court. Interestingly, a major development had taken place at the same time. You must remember, the dissent of four judges against CJI Dipak Mishra, who had questioned the apex court’s integrity on several cases, including Sukanya rape case.
The apex court wrote off Rs 50 lakh penalty imposed on me and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh for deposing fake persons, which meant that Sukanya and her family were missing and it was left for the agencies to find them.
However, the Supreme Court had not ordered closure of investigation in the case. The CBI officials, during investigations, used to ask me to furnish the names of those who were funding him to take up this case. They were under pressure from Chidambaram.
I did not have any contacts with Modi and Amit Shah, because the case was pursued by Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, I had once met Yogi Adityanath. Once they came to know of this, the CBI officials started to know if I had contacts with Modi, Amit Shah, BJP and RSS. If I had taken Amit Shah and Modi’s names, I would have been haunted by Chidamabaram and Co.
Nevertheless, I lodged a complaint with CBI Director Ranjit Sinha and asked him about the inaction against Mulayam Singh and Mayawati in disproportionate cases and, aviation scam against Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel. Realising that I would not be cowed down, CBI cooled off investigation against me.
The rape case, however, pushed Congress on the backfoot and forced it to strike a deal to close the disproportionate case aginst Netaji and go slow on rape case against Rahul Gandhi. Mulayam Singh, then, expelled me from the party. My resignation letter was shown to Sonia Gandhi by Professor Ram Gopal to convince her.
Sandeep Deo: What happened to those journalists who covered Sumitra Devi’s press conference and wrote about the case?
Kishore Samrite: Those journalists left India and are in Sri Lanka. You must know the mysterious deaths of Rajesh Pilot and Madhavrao Scindia. They had raised their voice against Rajiv Gandhi. Even I not safe in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress is ruling. I don’t believe my own security guards. They might kill me one day.
Sandeep Deo: What happened to Sukanya and her family after the incident?
Kishore Samrite: They all are missing after they had visited National Human Rights Commission in Delhi and Sonia Gandhi. If the government conducts an investigation, truth may emerge.
Sandeep Deo: Did BJP leaders help you while fighting the case?
Kishore Samrite: Once Nitin Gadkari telephoned me in the capacity of BJP President, but that was not much of a response. Dr Subramanian Swamy had published a book highlighting this case, which helped them win 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but no BJP leader asked about my welfare – whether I am dead or alive.
It is 2020, the Narendra Modi government has not taken any step to find out Sukanya and his family.
Sandeep Deo: So, you feel even Narendra Modi government will not act against Rahul Gandhi and his family?
Kishore Samrite: Absolutely. What happened during anti-CAA protests? The government had to face big challenges from the Congress, which worked in tandem with ISI.