The suspended cops included SHO Rakesh Singh and IO Girija Shankar, police said (Representational)
Two Varanasi policemen have been suspended after a woman, who had accused BSP's Ghosi MP Atul Rai of raping her, set herself ablaze along with her male friend before the Supreme Court in New Delhi early this week, an official said on Wednesday.
The suspended police officials included SHO Rakesh Singh of the Varanasi Cann police station and investigation officer Girija Shankar, probing a case of forgery against the rape victim, police said in a statement.
A woman from UP's Ghazipur had lodged a complaint with the Lanka police station in Varanasi in 2019, accusing BSP MP Rai of raping her.
She had alleged that Rai had raped her in his flat in the Lanka area of Varanasi and had also shot a video of the act. Rai is under judicial custody in this case.
The victim and her male friend took the extreme step after a court issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a case of forgery for allegedly submitting the wrong proof of her age in the rape case.
The two doused themselves with petrol and set themselves afire before the top court after going live on Facebook, accusing Varanasi's former Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak, Cantt police station's SHO Singh, IO Girija Shankar and other police officials of harassing them at the behest of the jailed MP.
The 24-year-old woman suffered 85 per cent burns in the immolation bid while her 27-year-old male friend suffered 65 per cent burns.
Both the victims are undergoing treatment in New Delhi with none of them being able to record their statements presently.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)