Student who accused Cong MLA of rape now says she did so at

A journalism student, who had accused Congress MLA Hemant Katare of rape and abduction, has now claimed that she had done so at the behest of BJP leader Arvind Bhadoria and three others.

Bhadoria rubbished the allegation and said he was ready for any probe including a lie-detector test, narco analysis or investigation by the CID or CBI.

The 21-year-old student filed an affidavit before the court registry yesterday, claiming that, on January 27, when she was lodged in jail, four people had told her that she would have to level allegations of rape against Katare in order to gain their support.

The woman was then lodged in the jail after being arrested on January 24 on a complaint by Katare that she was allegedly trying to extort money from him. She had been sent to judicial custody on January 25.

"They (Bhadoria, co-accused Vikramjeet Singh, a lawyer and a journalist) said that in order to gain their support, I would have to level allegations of rape against Hemant Katare. After I refused, for the next 2 days, I was harassed," the student alleged in her affidavit.

"The lawyer frequently made visits, consoled me on hearing my tribulations in the jail and said that in order to put an end to all this persecution, there is no other way but to allege rape against Hemant Katare. Otherwise Ill have to stay in jail for at least 3 months. He assured that in this pursuit, if I fully cooperate, he has all the needed help," she claimed in her affidavit.

Earlier, after coming out on bail on February 6, the woman had made allegations of rape and abduction against Katare.

Katare, however, had moved the high court and got relief from arrest after a case was filed on the basis of the woman's complaint.

Bhadoria, who had lost bypoll in Ater assembly constituency in MP's Bhind district to Katare, termed the the woman's allegations against him as "totally false", "baseless" and "a conspiracy" against him by Congress leaders.

"I can never be a conspirator as has been alleged. I am ready for any probe including a lie-detector test, narco analysis or investigation by the CID or CBI," he said, adding he was consulting his lawyers on the issue.

"Everybody has seen the conversation between the woman and Katare on social media sites and its content clearly shows that they were connected," the BJP leader said.

Lawyer Akash Telang, who too has been accused by the woman, also denied the allegations.

He said the woman's mother had approached him with the plea that the family has no support and therefore, as an advocate, he had helped her in getting bail.

"I will give a detailed reply on the issue in the high court when the matter comes up for hearing," he said.

The matter will come up for hearing before Justice C V Sirpurkar on May 7.