A woman has accused Prince Raj of raping her when he was unconscious
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP Prince Raj, seeking protection from arrest in a rape case, accused the complainant of extortion before a Delhi court today.
Ram Vilas Paswan's nephew and Chirag Paswan's cousin made the allegations before special judge Vikas Dhull who started hearing his anticipatory bail plea afresh today.
Special judge MK Nagpal recused himself from hearing the matter citing personal reasons on Tuesday when he was scheduled to pass an order on the application.
He sent the matter back to the District Judge, who assigned the case to a new court today.
The counsel appearing for Prince Raj, a Member of Parliament from Bihar's Samastipur, told the court that the alleged victim and her male friend were extorting and blackmailing his client since 2020.
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa told the court that the woman and her friend had demanded Rs 1 crore and threatened to file a false complaint against Prince Raj if he failed to pay the money.
A case was earlier filed in that regard on February 10 this year in Delhi, in which the woman and her associate were granted anticipatory bail in July, he said.
Advocate Nitesh Rana, also representing Raj, told the court that on May 31, the woman had filed a complaint against his client for allegedly raping her.
She later approached the court seeking registration of an FIR against Prince Raj, following which the court had sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the police, he said.
In its ATR, the police submitted before the court that nothing was found on her complaint and that it was a matter of extortion, he said.
The police opposed the application and said Raj's custodial interrogation was required in the matter.
The police submitted before the court that it needed his custody to recover the alleged video clips with objectionable content as claimed by the woman.
The court will hear the matter further on Thursday.
The Delhi Police filed an FIR on September 9 against Prince Raj on the directions of a court.
The woman, who claims to have been an LJP worker, has accused Raj of raping her while she was unconscious.