Lucknow, Jul 24 (IANS): There is finally some relief for former Samajwadi Party (SP) minister Gayatri Prajapati, who has been in jail since March 2017 on charges of gang raping a woman and her minor daughter. He is also an accused in the mining scam, which is being investigated by the CBI.

The woman, who accused the former minister of rape, has now withdrawn her statement. The woman retracted her statement in court saying that the former minister did not rape her but two of his aides did.

The woman, who belongs to Chitrakoot, had earlier claimed that in 2014, Prajapati had called her to Lucknow on the pretext of giving her a job and a house and then raped her, along with his his aides. She said that the accused had made a video of the act and kept blackmailing her.

She said that her complaint was not registered and finally, it was on the directives of the Supreme Court that Prajapati and his aides were arrested.

In a surprising turn of events, the victim, on Tuesday, submitted an application in the special MP-MLA court in Prayagraj, withdrawing her charges against the former minister.

Prajapati, sources said, was upset with the Samajwadi Party (SP), which has virtually abandoned him after he went to jail. The sons of Prajapati, who hails from Amethi, had campaigned for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Amethi.

Smriti Irani, now a Union Minister, had defeated Congress MP Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.