Honey trap case: Indore court seeks SIT record on steps taken over pen drive issue

A defence lawyer on Monday filed an application in a local court in a ''honey trap case'' urging the court to summon the record of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that issued a notice to Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath over alleged possession of a pen drive and steps taken by it after that.

The court ordered the prosecution to submit a reply to the application before it on January 14, said defence counsel Yawar Khan.

Khan told reporters he submitted the application to the court with a plea to direct the SIT's investigating officer to submit details of the steps taken by it after issuing a notice to Nath in 2021 and whether any pen drive was seized from the Congress leader related to the case.

As per the SIT notice issued under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) provisions, Nath, while addressing an online press conference on May 21, 2021, allegedly said he was in the possession of a pen drive related to the 2019 honey trap case.

However, after the issuance of the notice, the former chief minister had told reporters “Honey trap case's pen drive is not with me. It is available with you people (journalists) and many other persons. This pen drive has been circulated in the entire state.” It may be recalled that five women and their driver were arrested from Bhopal and Indore in September 2019, when the Congress government led by Nath was in power in the state, for allegedly trapping well-placed people and blackmailing them with objectionable videos.

In a charge-sheet filed in an Indore court on December 16, 2019, the police had said an organized racket was being operated targeting rich persons and those occupying high posts.

They were blackmailed on the basis of intimate videos shot with hidden cameras, screenshots of social media chats and other objectionable material, according to the police.