MP girl plays ‘rape prank’ on MLA, held

The Asian Age.  | Rabindra Nath Choudhury

India, All India

In yet another twist, chat records of the girl were made public, indicating that she had been in touch with the MLA since long.

The video grab, going viral in social media, showed the girl praising Congress MLA Hemant Katare, dubbing him as a dynamic young leader.

Bhopal: A day after a journalism, student was arrested on charges of blackmailing a Congress MLA here, a purported video surfaced on Thursday in which the accused girl was seen terming her actions as a “mere prank”, giving a new twist to the case.

The video grab, going viral in social media, showed the girl praising Congress MLA Hemant Katare, dubbing him as a dynamic young leader. She was heard saying that she only wanted to play a prank on him by hurling rape charges against him.

She also apologised for landing him in embarrassing situation by making such charges.

Incidentally, the girl was already in the police custody when the clip was released. However, it was not known when the purported video was shot and who released it.

“The release of the video has given a new twist to the case. We have begun probe into it,” a senior police officer here told this newspaper.

In yet another twist, chat records of the girl were made public, indicating that she had been in touch with the MLA since long.

Earlier on Wednesday, the police laid a trap for the girl who purportedly demanded Rs 25 lakhs from the MLA to “settle the matter” and arrested her while accepting Rs 5 lakh as part of tranche of the “agreed amount”.

The arrest came following a complaint by the legislator alleging that the girl was blackmailing him by threatening to implicate him in a rape case if he refused to pay Rs 2 crore.

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