Senior journalist Vinod Verma was arrested from Ghaziabad on Friday morning by Chhattisgarh Police on charges of extortion after claiming to have a “sex CD” of a BJP leader in Chhattisgarh.
Verma — had worked with a leading Hindi newspaper and also the BBC for several years — was picked up from his Mahagun Mansion Apartments in Indirapuram at 3.30 am by a team of the Chhattisgarh Police, along with the Ghaziabad Police which allegedly recovered about 500 copies of a CD that contains sexual material linked to Chhattisgarh’s PWD Minister Rajesh Munat. Besides, a police officer said seized a laptop, a pen drive and
Rs 2,00,000 in cash.
Stung by the CD episode, the Minister held a Press conference, along with other BJP leaders, and termed the CD, ‘tampered and morphed’ and urged Chief Minister Raman Singh to ‘order a thorough probe into the matter’.
Verma, who is currently the media face of Chhattisgarh PCC chief Bhupesh Baghel, was interrogated for over an hour by police before being produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) for transit remand.
And after the court’s approval, the visiting police team took Verma —accused of blackmailing the BJP leader and trying to extort money — to Chhattisgarh.
The journalist, who is also a member of the Editors Guild of India, accepted that he had “a sex CD” of a Chhattisgarh Minister but denied charges of blackmail, claiming that the BJP Government in Chhattisgarh is not happy with him because he possessed the “sex CD” of a State Minister.
CJM Archana granted the transit remand, rejecting the plea of defence lawyer Rakesh Tyagi who argued that his client was being framed as he is in-charge of the Congress social media cell in Chhattisgarh.
However, the Chhattisgarh Police lawyer argued for the transit remand since an FIR was registered in Chhattisgarh, the accused had to be produced before a competent court in that State.
The charges against Verma could lead him to a three-year jail term.
“A case of blackmail and extortion has been registered against the scribe at Pandri police station in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, under sections 384 and 506 of IPC (Indian Penal Code) t on the complaint of Prakash Bajaj, a BJP leader in Raipur district”, Senior Superintendent of Police (Ghaziabad) H N Singh said.
Raipur DSP Shukla who led the police team said Verma has been booked under the Information Technology (IT) Act. The complainant, he said, was a man named Prakash Bajaj. “He had lodged a complaint at the Pandri police station that he was being harassed over phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his master,” Shukla said.
“During the probe, police came to know about a shop where the CD in question was copied. The shopkeeper told police that one Vinod had got 1,000 copies made of the CD,” DSP Shukla said.
Bajaj told police that he ignored the initial calls. But on Wednesday, Verma threatened to release the “sex tape” in Raipur and Delhi if he did not pay up, he added.
The predawn raid at Verma’s home has charged up political atmosphere in the State which goes to polls later next year.
“I am in politics for roughly 34 years and never thought that I would ever witness such allegation which shows to what extent the politics has come down,’’ Munat who was looking unfazed by the episode, told a crowded Press conference in Raipur. Munat is considered close to the CM and the CD issue has pushed the BJP on the back foot.
Chhattisgarh has track record of CD scandals against top leaders across the parties and people and politicians in the State expect CD politics in run up to Assembly polls.
PCC chief Baghel slammed Chhattisgarh Police for Rs acting too fast against the journalist who was not even named even in the FIR filed in the matter at Raipur’s Pandri police station on Oct 26’.
The BJP went into huddle on Friday evening in Raipur and sought opinions from legal experts how to turn heat back on Baghel and finally Munat accompanied by top party leaders visited to Civil lines police station and registered a fresh FIR in the matter directly naming Verma.
Meanwhile, the Congress slammed the arrest of Verma on Friday in New Delhi and demanded his immediate release and a probe against the “Chhattisgarh Minister being investigated by the journalist for alleged sex-related activities”.
“We condemn the arrest of Verma by the Chhattisgarh Government. Verma was investigating Munat for alleged involvement in sex-related activities,” said Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken.
“Many such incidents have taken place in the past. The manner in which the Modi Government has attacked press freedom and tried to gag the media, this is an example of that,” he added.
Chhattisgarh Police, which is facing criticism for arresting the journalist without doing proper home work, held a Press conference in Raipur to justify their action but the police officers looked confused to offer satisfactory reply when media persons hurled questions Rs what was the need to arrest a journalist within 12 hours on the basis of the FIR in which he was even not named.
The AAP party, which is non-entity in Chhattisgarh, tried to extract mileage on Friday in Raipur as it allowed its cadres to storm into Munat’s official residence located just a few metres from the police control room. The AAP cadres threw black ink on Munat’s nameplate and raised slogans against the Minister before being taken into police custody.