With every passing day, fresh revelations are emerging in the high profile honey-trap racket in Madhya Pradesh. As per a latest IANS report, there is strong evidence which suggests that huge amounts, running into several crores, was pocketed by two women, Shweta Jain, the kingpin of the racket and Shweta’s friend and accomplice in the sex scandal, Barkha Soni.
While the former floated two private limited companies in a span of six months out of the money extorted from bureaucrats, ministers and MLAs, the later ran an NGO, Samarth Samajik Seva Sanstha Samiti, to secure funds generated from the honey-trap racket.
It has also been reported that Barkha Soni frequented the Congress Headquarters in New Delhi and her Facebook wall is full of her pictures with prominent faces of the party. The report also suggests that Shweta hobnobbed with state BJP leaders.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the MP Police, investigating one of the biggest sex scandals in the country, revealed that on January 19 this year, Shweta floated a real estate and construction company, Deepthimantham Enterprise Pvt Limited to enter into big construction projects, patronised by a few IAS officers. Six months later, on July 26, she floated another company to nab contracts relating to software and computer hardware. While Aarti was appointed director, Shweta became the managing director of this firm.
After a Special Investigative Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the high profile honey-trap racket, five women, including the wife of a former Congress IT cell vice-president, had been arrested in connection with the case.
It was reported earlier that the investigating team has found that besides several ministers and IAS officers in the state, Bhopal-based media persons are also involved in the sex scandal.
As per an IANS report, the names include a resident editor of a Hindi newspaper, a cameraman of a news channel and the owner of the regional satellite channel.
The media persons, as per the report, were not the victims of the honey trap racket but rather the ‘conduits’. The media persons allegedly helped broker deals between the bureaucrat victims and Shweta Jain, the kingpin of the racket.
In another development, the father of Monika Yadav, the 18-year-old girl who was arrested among other women, was detained by the Indore police for interrogation. Reports stated that Monika had revealed that some material evidence is hidden in her house and the police team had gone to the Sawansi village in Rajgarh district along with Monika.
Arti Dayal, Shweta Swapnil Jain, Barkha Soni, Shweta Vijay Jain, Monika Yadav and a driver named Omprakash Kori were the first persons to be arrested in the high profile honey trapping racket. Barkha is the wife of a former Congress IT cell vice president and a former Mahila Congress member. Shweta had even tried to get an election ticket from Sagar but could not do it after her MMS went viral.
As many as 13 IAS officers, a former governor and a former chief minister are reportedly among the people used by the racket to extort money and favourable deals for their NGOs. The police are now examining thousands of digital files, filled with lurid sex chats, videos and images that were recovered from the arrested persons.