The Chhattisgarh Police arrested a former BBC journalist Vinod Verma from his Ghaziabad residence early Friday morning for allegedly making an extortion call to blackmail a Chhattisgarh minister with a sex CD.
Verma has been booked under sections 384 and 507 of the Indian penal code (IPC) for extortion and intimidation.
The arrest which sparked off a war of words between the Chhattisgarh units of the Congress and the BJP, came following a complaint by BJP’s state working committee member Prakash Bajaj to the Pandari police station in Chhatisgarh’s Raipur district. The case was handed over to the crime branch superintendent of police (SP) Ajatshatru Bahadur Singh who led a team to Delhi to investigate the matter.
Senior police officials in Ghaziabad confirmed the arrest made by Chhattisgarh Police, but refused to reveal details of the case. Verma is currently a freelancer.
“Verma was arrested by Chhattisgarh Police from his Indirapuram residence. He was brought to police station here for questioning. A case has been registered against him in Pandari police station in Raipur,” a senior police official said.
However, sources revealed that Verma was arrested for possession of a sex CD involving a minister in the BJP government in Chhattisgarh and was making extortion attempts.
Verma is also a member of Editors Guild of India and had been writing about socio-economic and cultural affairs of Chhattisgarh.
According to sources, Verma allegedly made a phone call earlier this week to a close aide of the BJP minister in question and demanded a ransom. A team of Chhattisgarh Police then raided a shop in Delhi, and confiscated as many as 1000 prints of the alleged sex video. Based on interrogation of the shopkeeper, the police raided Verma’s house in Indirapuram.
The Ghaziabad police confirmed that their Chhattisgarh counterparts confiscated a large number of CDs from Verma’s residence as well. They also took journalist’s laptop and pen drive.
Chhattisgarh state Congress president, Bhupesh Baghel has condemned Verma’s arrest and accused the BJP-ruled state government of muzzling democratic values.
“The alleged sex scandal involving a sitting state minister surfaced last week. I also have the CD, but it was not released since we are examining the forensic credibility of the CD. The journalist was arrested for the possession of the same CD. Possessing a CD is not a crime. Verma has not circulated the CD in form. His arrest shows the BJP government is trying to snuff out the issue,” Baghel said.
The Aam Admi Party also criticized the arrest with its leader Ashutosh, a former journalist, questioning whether it was an attack on the press.
After the backlash following Verma’s arrest, BJP spokesperson in Chhattisgarh Shrichand Sundarni refuted claims about the alleged CD and accused the Congress of conspiracy.
“These controversies do not affect BJP. The party is ready for any probe into the matter,” Sundarani said.
