HP: Two suspended BJP functionaries among 3 arrested for recording, sharing obscene video

Two BJP functionaries, suspended last month by the party after they appeared in a sexually explicit video, were arrested on Tuesday along with the wife of the man in the clip.

The BJP had suspended a district-level youth wing leader and a women's wing leader last month after a case was lodged against them by the Himachal Pradesh Police in Kullu.

Three persons, including two women, were arrested after recovering and analysing evidence on the basis of a report submitted by a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Kullu Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh said.

They have been booked under the Information Technology (IT) Act, he said.

The man and his lover were arrested for making the video and his wife for sharing it, Singh said, adding that an FIR against them was registered on July 27 at the Banjar police station.

They have been booked under the IT Act's sections 67 and 67(A), which pertain to publishing or transmitting obscene material and material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form, he said.

The 12.35-minute video was reportedly shot a few months ago by the suspended BJP functionaries themselves.The man's wife got her hands on the video when it was sent to him by the woman BJP functionary and she shared it.

There is also a 13.05 minute audiotape in which the wife asks the women wing's leader to stay away from her husband, police said.

On July 30, a 28-year-old youth was arrested for allegedly circulating the video on social media, police said.