In MP Sex Scandal, High Court Questions Frequent Change Of Probe Head

In the Madhya Pradesh sex scandal involving politicians and bureaucrats, the Indore bench of the High Court today repeatedly questioned the state government about the numerous times the head of the Special Investigation Team or SIT has been changed. There have been three changes in nine days.

The High Court has ordered the Principal Secretary of the Home department of the state government to present the investigation report of the entire case and the reason for changing the SIT heads. The report is to be submitted before October 21, when the court will hear the case again.

Advocates Ashok Chitle, Manohar Dalal and Lokendra Joshi had filed an application for the case to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI and monitoring of the investigation from the High Court. During the hearing, the High Court gave these instructions to the state government.

The High Court has also asked the newly-appointed SIT chief Rajendra Kumar to submit before the court by October 21, a status report about the investigations till now into the case.

Rajendra Kumar was recently appointed as the chief of the three-member SIT. The probe panel was earlier headed by Sanjeev Shami who had replaced his predecessor D Sriniwas Verma, just a day after it was set up on September 23.

Meanwhile, the husband of one of the five accused in the sex scandal has come out in favour of his wife. Amit Soni, husband of Barkha Soni (one of the accused in the case) said his wife is innocent and said he has full faith in the judiciary.

Amit Soni was vice-president of the state Congress social media and IT department when he was removed from all posts. Soon after the honey-trap scandal exploded on media channels, Pradesh Congress released his sacking orders of June, signed by chairman of PCC social media and IT department, Abhay Tiwari.

While speaking to media, he said "Had I really known influential people such as politicians and ministers, we wouldn't have been arrested." 

"Neither other women named in the scandal have identified my wife nor the complainant in the case," Amit Soni said. He is yet to apply for bail as he claims to have 'faith in the court'.

Five women have been arrested in what has come to be known as the "honey trap case" and more than 1000 video clips of political leaders -- from both Congress and the BJP -- and high ranking officials, have been seized. 

The police say the "honey-trap" was run by five women who used sex workers to targeted politicians and bureaucrats. The operation was mainly aimed at bagging lucrative government contracts running into several hundred crores from VIPs, the police said after questioning Shweta Jain, one of the arrested women. The 39-year-old who runs a local NGO and rents the house of a BJP MLA, Brijendra Pratap Singh, allegedly ran the operation.

Each woman had her own gang of sex workers. Investigators have said it could turn out to be the biggest ever 'quid pro quo sex scandal' in the country.