Minister's 'Sex CD' storms Chhattisgarh politics

Even as a year is left when Chhattisgarh will go to polls in December 2018, political manoeuvres go in full throttle after a “sex CD (compact disc) of a Chhattisgarh minister” stirred the ruling-opposition relations that hurtle on yet another downhill journey.

Based on a complaint filed by a BJP leader Prakash Bajaj, the Raipur police along with its Ghaziabad counterpart arrested senior journalist Vinod Verma in the wee hours of Friday on charges of extortion and threatening. Verma claimed to have a "sex CD" of a senior Chhattisgarh minister and cited it a reason for his arrest.

The Raipur Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Shukla said during probe, the police came to know about a shop where the CD in question was copied and the shopkeeper said one Vinod Verma had made one thousand copies of the CD. The police claimed to have seized 500 copies from Verma’s residence and “sufficient” evidences against the scribe.

Verma, however, said that the Chhattisgarh Police were not happy with him as he had a "sex CD of a Chhattisgarh minister". He denied having CDs and said he was carrying just a pen drive. A senior journalist, Vinod Verma, was arrested here early on Friday on charges of extortion after claiming to have a "sex CD" of a BJP leader in Chhattisgarh. A court granted three days of transit remand to the Chhattisgarh Police.

Verma, who claimed he had "a sex CD" of a Chhattisgarh minister but denied charges of blackmail, was picked up from his house early in the morning by a team of Chhattisgarh Police along with Uttar Pradesh Police.

The incident took a political colour when opposition Congress state chief Bhupesh Baghel claimed that he was in possession of the said CD. He demanded resignation of the minister and said the journalist was framed without any logic as mere possession of a CD was not a crime.

The ruling party launched a scathing attack on Congress. “If there was a CD against the minister, what was the logic of making 500 copies,” BJP state president Dharamlal Kaushik said. The Congress had been indulged in ugly politics and sidelined all established political decorum, he said, adding that Bhupesh Baghel should reveal association with Vinod Verma as he learnt they were close relatives.

BJP termed the CD as fake and demanded a high level enquiry into the matter.

What stirred the political cauldron was Ajit Jogi’s Chhattisgarh Janata Congress’ plunging into the scene and accusing Congress for the mess. “The relatives of Congress leaders are meticulously making CDs in Delhi and black mailing leaders for money,” Amit Jogi, legislator and Ajit Jogi’s on, said.