Indore: The honey-trapping scandal in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has now spread to neighbouring Maharashtra as well.
After reports surfaced claiming that a former minister of Maharashtra has links with the scandal, Abhay Salunkhe, a Congress leader from Latur, reached Indore on Wednesday to look into the matter.
Salunkhe reached the Madhya Pradesh commercial capital on Wednesday morning, claiming he was in the city to gather information about a Maharashtra minister. Salunkhe went to the Palasia police station where the only FIR in connection with the scandal has been lodged. However, the police officers declined to meet him.
Salunkhe also tried meeting the women accused in the case, but failed.
Salunkhe, who later met Congress Indore president Vinay Bakliwal, said citizens of Latur have been shocked by senior leader Digvijaya Singh’s claims that a Maharashtra politician is also involved in the scandal.
Singh had named a current Maharashtra minister who had allegedly inaugurated a shop belonging to a husband of a honey-trapping kingpin in Sagar district years ago.
Salunkhe claimed that the named minister has already been investigated by the CBI on charges of duping national banks. He alleged that the said minister has allotted several tenders of his department to the members of honey-trap gang and the police should probe this as well.
Meanwhile, one of the gang members was taken to MY Hospital in Indore on Wednesday after she complained of health issues.
Another member of the racket, who has now turned a complainant after her father lodged a complaint with the police on Tuesday accusing other gang members of human trafficking, has received some support from her villagers.
The residents, who had reached Indore on Tuesday night, described the girl as “a bright student” who had been “trapped in the racket”. They claimed that the girl used to frequent Bhopal in connection with a legal feud related to her father’s farm and got in touch with honey-trapping members who lured her with promises of bearing her educational expenses through their NGO.
The gang had reportedly asked the student to bring in more women to them. However, the girl refused to do so after learning about the gang’s activities, claimed the villagers.
Police teams are also likely to visit Chhatarpur, Rajgarh and Bhopal to carry out the further inquiry.
(With inputs from Arun Trivedi in Indore)
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