A woman who allegedly honey-trapped and blackmailed a BJP MP was arrested from her home in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. The woman, who had accused the politician of rape, has been sent to five-day police custody by a special court.
BJP MP from Gujarat’s Valsad, K. C. Patel, had filed a complaint last week alleging that the woman had invited him to a house in Ghaziabad where she spiked his drink and shot obscene videos and photos of him. Mr. Patel said the woman used the videos and photos to blackmail him for ₹5 crore.
Based on Mr. Patel’s complaint, the police had registered a case under Section 384 (extortion) of the IPC. After further probe, charges under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (obtaining gratification, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant), have been added.
Special Judge Hemani Malhotra allowed the police’s plea that the accused was required for custodial interrogation, to recover evidences and for arresting of her associates.
Public prosecutor Atul Srivastava had sought five-day police custody claiming that the probe agency was tracing the bank accounts of the woman. Mr. Srivastava said her custody was also needed for the recovery of the CCTV footage from her house.
‘I am the victim’
“We’ll check if she has other associates... CCTV cameras were installed in the house where the videos were shot. We are investigating if there were other systems installed,” said Special Commissioner of Police (New Delhi range) Mukesh Kumar Meena.
The woman has, however, said she is the victim in the case and was being framed by the police, which was working under political pressure. “The entire prosecution story has been cooked up,” she claimed.
The woman had earlier approached a city court claiming that the police had not acted on her rape complaint against the lawmaker, following which an action taken report was sought.
Earlier case
The police said that the woman was involved in a similar case before.
“This woman had earlier filed a rape case against another MP in Tilak nagar police station, but when she was produced in court, she gave a different version,” said Mr Meena.
Mr. Srivastava said that in the earlier case, the woman had retracted her statement recorded by a Metropolitan Magistrate and also refused to undergo a medical examination. “Not only did she put to disrepute the reputation of women in general, she also lowered the dignity of the police and the judges by stating that she had to pay money to them,” he said.
“We are checking her previous records to see if she has treated other influential people the same way and whether she was going to approach other politicians for the same,” he added.
