Bhopal: Late on Sunday night police raided the media office and other business establishments owned by the editor of a local Hindi daily, which has created ripples in official and political circles here by bringing to light sleazy videos and audios purportedly linked to the infamous honey trap scandal unearthed in the state recently, in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
According to Indore district senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ruchi Vardhan Mishra, 67 women were rescued from a hotel owned by the editor-cum-entrepreneur, Jitendra Soni, in Indore city and live and spent cartridges were recovered from his house.
“He (Jitendra) was booked under immoral trafficking and Arms Acts. He is currently absconding. We have announced a bounty of `10,000 on his head,” the police officer told reporters on Monday.
The editor’s son Amit was also arrested on various charges. He was produced in a local court in Indore which remanded him to police custody till December 6.
The newspaper, Sanjha Lokswamy, recently published photographs of a senior BJP leader, a minister in the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, in a compromising position with one of the five women accused in a honey trap scandal involving blackmailing of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.
The evening newspaper also carried a story of a sleazy audio in which a purported retired bureaucrat is heard having sex on the phone with a woman accused in the scandal.
The raids followed a complaint lodged by a local civic body officer Harbhajan Singh, one of the victims of the honey trap gang, alleging that Mr Soni published “objectionable pictures and video grabs” of him in his daily and also circulated it on YouTube channel, according to the police officer.
“The 67 rescued women and seven children were kept in the hotel in deplorable conditions. They appeared very scared. They were being counselled and would be suitably rehabilitated,” SSP Mishra said.
Police said the 67 women, a majority of them from Assam and West Bengal, were reportedly serving as bar dancers in the hotel.
