MP Honey Trap Case: Will Formation Of New SIT Derail Probe?

Honey Trap MP Case: Several sex videotapes and call intercepts under probe. New SIT might scuttle investigation.

The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh has set up a new SIT on Tuesday (1 October) late night in the controversial 'honey trap' case which allegedly involves high-profile politicians and bureaucrats.

The SIT team has now been reduced to 3 police officers from 10, although the government order says that the SIT can take assistance from other police officers as and when required. The new team will be headed by Special DG (Cyber Cell) Rajendra Kumar who has replaced Anti-Terror Squad Chief Sanjeev Shami.

The development is a result of infighting between two top Madhya Pradesh Police officials. Officer A had served a notice to Officer B for renting a flat in Ghaziabad. There were reports linking the flat with the honey trap case, which made Officer B unhappy and he even wrote to the IPS Association about it.

The IPS Association is still looking into the complaint filed by Officer B. “We generally don’t look into individual complaints and might forward it to some competent authority. But we haven’t decided on that yet,” said Vijay Yadav, chairman of IPS Association.

Sanjeev Shami is considered to be an honest and upright police official. Many police officers feel that whatever little hope they had with the probe of the murky honey trap case has now died with Shami's removal.

It is a bad government move and might scuttle the investigation, said officers who were part of the SIT.

Five women, Shweta Vijay Jain, Shweta Swapnil Jain, Barkha Soni Bhatnagar, Aarti Dayal and Monica Yadav were arrested by the police on 18 September for the alleged blackmailing of politicians and bureaucrats. Police has made Monica Yadav an approver in the case.

Some Are On Video And Some on Audio

Officers close to the investigation told The Quint that it is a mammoth probe which includes transcription of over 1,000 calls of five accused which were intercepted over a period of two months.

The Quint had reported on 30 September that the alleged sex racket gang was under surveillance after the sex videotape of a senior IAS officer was leaked around 30 July.

“In some cases we have sex videotape as direct evidence against politicians and bureaucrats. But in some cases we have intercepted call recordings between the accused and the politicians and bureaucrats which are being probed as well.”

A Police officer

The Quint has learnt from police sources that there are 30 sex videotapes of a BJP leader, and 27 sex videotapes of a Congress leader.

We have also learnt that another senior BJP former state minister allegedly went to Nepal for 20 days with one of the accused.

'One Accused Frequently Visited MP Secretariat'

The Quint was also told that during the interception, it was found that one of the accused Shweta Swapnil Jain frequently visited Vallabh Bhawan. The building houses the chief minister, ministers, chief secretary, principal secretaries, deputy secretaries and other officers.

“Just a few days before the complaint was filed in the case, Shweta Swapnil Jain was banned from entering the office of a senior bureaucrat whom she visited frequently. We don’t know why she was suddenly banned from his office. It is a matter of probe.”

A police officer

The sex videotapes of the bureaucrat whom Shweta Swapnil visited in the secretariat have also surfaced during the investigation, said sources.

The Quint accessed the names of 5 BJP leaders, 2 RSS leaders, 3 Congress leaders, 4 serving IPS officers and 7 serving IAS officers – of which 2 are very senior officers – one retired IAS officer and two journalists, out of which one is based out of Delhi.

An internal report was prepared by the SIT and submitted to the CM Kamal Nath. Sources have confirmed that a few names of politicians and bureaucrats have already been removed in the report.

“The SIT or the Kamal Nath government will never reveal the whole truth to the public. They might make public one BJP leader’s name because many people in power corridors are already aware of his case. He was blackmailed and also paid hefty amount as ransom. Other names are too big to be revealed.”

A police officer

The honey trap gang would allegedly contact influential people on the pretext of getting contract and aid for their NGOs and later trap them by meeting them in private and making obscene video through spy cameras. The police is looking for women who were allegedly lured by the gang on the pretext of jobs and forced into prostitution.

The case has been registered under the Human Trafficking Section 370 of IPC which can lead to rigorous punishment for a term of not less than 10 years. The offence includes any act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation. The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking. The police is also probing the benefits passed on by the politicians and bureaucrats to the gang to establish quid pro quo.