Bhopal: In yet another twist in the sexual exploitation case involving a journalism student and a young Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh, the victim took a U-turn on Thursday when she revealed that she had not, in fact, been sexually exploited by the lawmaker but instead had been manipulated by the BJP to implicate the Congress leader.
20-year-old journalism student Priyanka Baghel (name changed), submitted her latest claims before the Madhya Pradesh court, alleging that she had been a puppet in the hands of BJP state Vice President Arvind Bhaduria and his associates. She repeated her testimony before the media later on.
In January this year, the Crime Branch of police had arrested Baghel on charges of extorting money from the Congress MLA Hemant Katare through blackmailing and she even spent a few days behind bars for the same. Minutes after getting bail in the case, Priyanka appeared before the media and claimed that she was the victim as the Congress MLA had sexually exploited her on multiple occasions.
In no time, Katare was booked over rape and other charges and has been absconding ever since then.
Among those named by her on Thursday as the ones who misled her to accuse Katare include the lawyer who represented her in the court, a journalist based out of Bhopal and one Vikramjeet who was co-accused with her in the blackmailing case lodged by the MLA.
Mincing no words, Priyanka pointed fingers at BJP vice president Arvind Bhaduaria for misleading her into framing Congress MLA Katare into the rape case she filed against the lawmaker in January 2018.
The political tussle between Bhadauria and Katare is an open secret after the former lost to Katare in Ater by-election by less than 1000 votes in 2017.
The man in question, Bhadauria talking to the media trashed the girl’s claim saying she did not meet any of the party in the case and was framed in a political conspiracy. “I am even ready for Narco test if needed,” he added.
On the contrary, Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi alleged that the affidavit filed by the girl with the HC had exposed the BJP controversy to frame Congress MLA Hemant Katare in a false case.
Superintendent of Police (South) Rahul Kumar, the enquiry officer in the case, refused comments on the case saying he can’t say anything unless he receives a copy of the said affidavit.
“Those people feigned to have sympathy for me. However, they made me level false allegations for their own personal gains and benefits. I’ve been made a scapegoat for the political motives of these influential persons,” the girl said in the affidavit she submitted with the HC.
“I seek apologies for having levelled false allegations. As I’m now making public the truth, these influential people like Arvind Bhadoria can gravely harm me and my family and could even get me and family members eliminated. I seek mercy for my misdeeds,” she mentioned.
The journalism aspirant in her affidavit also claimed that she was harassed in the police custody when she declined to level rape charges against the Congress lawmaker.
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