Court rejects woman's bail plea in BJP MP honey trap case

A court here on Friday rejected the bail plea of woman and her aide, accused of honey trapping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian K.C. Patel.

Special Judge Hemani Malhotra dismissed the bail plea of the woman and her associate Ajay Kumar alias Ajay Pal Chauhan saying "they do not deserve any leniency as it prima facie appears that both the accused persons were in conspiracy with each other and were partners in crime".

"The material on record thus, prima facie suggests that the accused woman adopted this ingenious modus operandi to trap public personalities by accusing them of rape/molestation and then extort money from them," the court said.

"This kind of act is not only diabolical but also brings loss of reputation and stigma to the persons accused of rape/molestation."

The court also said that such persons are repeatedly shunned by their own families and public at large.

"It is not a simple case of extortion in which case, the victim suffers pecuniary loss. The present case is an instance where the victims suffer loss of honour and fall in the eyes of society," the court said.

Delhi Police has accused the woman, Kumar and others of extortion.

The woman allegedly filmed obscene videos of Gujarat's Valsad MP K.C. Patel and threatened to make them public if she was not paid money, said police.

The police have chargesheeted them under Sections 384 (extortion), 389 (putting in fear of accusation of an offence in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 (taking gratification by corrupt or illegal means to influence public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Delhi Police arrested the woman on May 2 from her Ghaziabad residence while Kumar was arrested on June 9.

--IANS

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