During a press conference, former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath claimed that he “still had the pen drive” containing videos related to the 2019 Madhya Pradesh honey-trap scandal. After Kamal Nath’s claims, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) tasked with probing the scandal has asked Kamal Nath to hand over the pen drive.
Issuing a notice to Kamal Nath under the relevant CrPC provisions over his statement during a recent virtual press conference, the SIT has also demanded the pen drive containing files related to the honey-trap scandal which the former MP CM had earlier claimed to be in his possession.
The notice stated that “pen drive/CD was extremely important evidence” in the FIR lodged in Palasia police station with the SIT stating that the pen drive would help their investigation by making it more effective and stronger.
The notice stated that Kamal Nath must be present at his Bhopal residence on June 2 at 12:30 PM to hand over the pen drive/CD to the SIT and record his statement.
However, the former MP CM has now performer a U-turn, as he said he would respond to the SIT notice, however, he claimed that the pen drive was not in his possession and several journalists have the pen drive and were being circulated widely in Madhya Pradesh. He claimed that he was kept informed about the case by the state police as he was the Chief Minister when the scandal broke out.
So far, five women and a man have been arrested in relation to the honey-trapping scandal where they have been alleged to trapping well-placed people and blackmailing them with objectionable videos.
Shweta Vijay Jain, who was among those arrested back in September 2019, is one of the main accused in the case which saw top politicians and bureaucrats were allegedly lured into sex and discreetly filmed.
The scandal came to the limelight after a complaint of Indore city Engineer Harbhajan Singh who had alleged that he was being blackmailed by some members of the gang.
The then-MP CM, Kamal Nath had been irked after an Indore-based newspaper broadcasted some of the videos and audios allegedly seized by the SIT. This led to the Indore Police filing more than 56 cases against Jeetu Soni, the owner of the newspaper, including those of gang rape, which led to Soni going underground. After the return of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, Soni managed a staged arrest from Gujarat.