The Bihar sex scandal, which was argued by many in the local media as having the potential to rock local politics and unmask many high-profile people in the state, appears to be moving towards burial with the complainant girl ready to marry the person whom she had accused of running a sex racket and sexually exploiting her.
The complainant, who is from Dalit community and daughter of a Congress leader, had also named Brajesh Kumar Pandey – former Bihar Congress Vice President and brother of NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar – as one of the accomplices of Nikhil Priyadarshi, a businessman accused of running the sex scandal. The complainant girl had claimed that she was underage at the time she was sexually exploited.
The complainant had said that Nikhil and Brajesh not only sexually exploited her, but also ran a sex racket where many other high-profile people were involved. Media reports had indicated that such a racket could indeed be being run, with daughter of a top bureaucrat being forced to commit suicide after falling prey to it.
After the case came in public knowledge, Brajesh Kumar had to resign from his post in the Congress party while Nikhil ran away from the state. Arrest warrants against both of them were issued meanwhile. While Nikhil was finally arrested in March this year, Brajesh Kumar still is absconding. Some reports suggested that he was hiding in Delhi even as National Commission for Scheduled Castes had ordered his arrest.
There were reports about political pressure being put on police and investigating agencies to especially go slow on Brajesh Kumar, because he was the brother of an influential national journalist (Ravish Kumar). There were also reports that suggested that the case ‘had to be buried’ as it could expose too many skeletons in the cupboard of many influential people.
These were followed by reports about the complainant girl being harassed, senior official of CID himself raising fingers at investigations accusing the agencies of being lax in their probe, and Nikhil Priyadarshi reportedly claiming that he had ‘objectionable clips’ of many influential people and thus no one can dare touch him.
Now latest reports indicate that the complainant girl has agreed to ‘compromise’ and marry Nikhil Priyadarshi, who is currently lodged in a jail in Patna. Nikhil is son of a retired top bureaucrat himself and his father too is in jail along with him. Now both of them have reportedly been granted bail to attend the marriage of Nikhil and the complainant girl.
This ‘compromise’ is being opposed by the special public prosecutor, who has argued that the case is way too serious to be treated as a private matter between two individuals. The prosecutor is also reported to have claimed that the victim girl failed to get support from his politician father and thus had no option but to agree for the marriage to settle the case.
Media reports quoting ‘sources’ claim that this ‘compromise’ was brokered by a politician in the last week of May. Whatever be the reason, it appears that the case that threatened to derail many careers and rock Bihar politics, has now been successfully buried.
