An engineer's complaint about blackmail has unearthed a sex-racket, which has its roots entwined with top Madhya Pradesh leadership. The women arrested by the police have allegedly blackmailed, ministers, MLAs and top bureaucrats siphoning off crores of rupees. They had even once driven a former MP to attempt suicide.

MADHYA PRADESH SEX-RACKET

Date: September 19, 2019. Place: Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The local police arrested two women and their driver. The initial investigation revealed that these women made a video of a sexual encounter with an Indore-based engineer and tried to blackmail him for Rs 3 crore.

But when the police started digging, they found that these women run a similar racket across 12 districts of Madhya Pradesh, supply girls to leaders and top officials and blackmail them with videos of sexual encounters.

HOW COPS BUSTED THE RACKET

The case which led cops to the state-wide scam was a case filed by a Harbhajan Singh - an engineer in Indore Municipal Corporation. On September 17, Harbhajan Singh approached Palasia police station to file a case against a woman named Aarti Dayal, who he alleged, was blackmailing him on the basis of an obscene video.

According to reports in the local media, Aarti was a friend of Harbhajan Singh. She allegedly introduced Harbhajan Singh with an 18-year-old girl, Monica Yadav, on the pretence of seeking help for her employment. The two later got cosy in a hotel room, which was recorded by Aarti and the video was allegedly used to blackmail the engineer.

The Indore police nabbed Aarti, Monica and their driver, Om Prakash, when they came to pick up Rs 50 lakh, first installment of the ransom money, at BSM Heights in Vijay Nagar.

After interrogating these three, Indore police roped in Madhya Pradesh ATS and raided establishments connected with their racket across the state.

Based on Aarti and Monica's testimony, the police also arrested Shweta Vijay Jain from Minal Residency, Shweta Swapnil Jain from Rivera Hills and Brakha Amit Soni from Kotra. According to the police, the mastermind of the racket is Shweta Swapnil Jain, who built the sex-racket in 12 districts with the help of her husband Swapnil Jain. The racket employed 18 women who operated under the garb of an NGO, the police said.

SEX-RACKETEERS HAD CONNECTIONS WITH BJP AND CONGRESS LEADERS

According to reports in Dainik Bhaskar and Patrika, five of the 18 women were on good terms with the top leadership of both the BJP and Congress. They were, in fact, frequent visitors of the Madhya Pradesh Secretariat, the reports claimed.

1) Aarti Dayal: According to police, Aarti Dayal was the founder of the sex-racket. Eight months ago, she had registered a dowry case against her husband and had moved from his house in Chharatpur to Bhopal. Local reports said she was close to an IAS officer inside the secretariat who helped her get the rented accommodation in Bhopal. She had also sourced funding from the state government for an NGO that works for the agricultural, rural and panchayat department. She also had a house in Minal.

2) Shweta Vijay Jain: A resident of Sagar, Shweta Jain is a former BJP member. According to Dainik Bhaskar, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh had even got her a bungalow in Minal Residency. Apart from this, Shweta Vijay Jain was also in touch with ministers in Bundelkhand, Malwa and Nimar. The reports say that the wife of a collector had caught him with Shweta in a bungalow. She was also a part of legislature seat panel during the 2013 assembly elections. Her name was dropped after her sex video came out. Shweta's name has also been linked with the sons of top leaders and some business leaders.

3) Shweta Swapnil Jain: A report in Patrika says Bhopal-resident Shweta Swapnil Jain had been staying at BJP MLA Brijendra Pratap Singh's bungalow since September 1, 2019, and was paying a rent of Rs 35,000 per month. In the rent agreement, she mentioned her occupation as physiotherapist. Before that, Shweta Swapnil Jain lived at BJP MLA Dilip Singh Parihar's bungalow. Dainik Bhaskar's report claims that she had recorded an obscene video of a former MLA and blackmailed him for Rs 2 crore. The reports said that she was responsible for transfers of three senior bureaucrats and was trying to honey trap another.

4) Barkha Bhatnagar Soni: Local media reports say that Barkha Bhatnagar Soni, a resident of Nimar, was an active member of the Congress. Her husband Amit Soni was a member of Congress IT cell. She had close ties with a local Nimar leader. Currently, her ties with two ministers and a former state chief are in headlines. She has taken a donation from several political bigwigs for her NGO.

5) Monica Yadav: 18-year-old Monica Yadav is a resident of Rajgarh and is a student of BSc. Local media reports say that she would frequently visit political leaders and senior officials. She used to text these leaders and officials. She was roped into the gang by Aarti Dayal.

PHONE NUMBERS OF OVER 150 BIGWIGS FOUND

Crime branch officials have found Rs 14 lakh in cash, SUV, laptop and eight sim cards from the possession of the arrested women. They have recovered at least 15 sex videos of political leaders and top bureaucrats from the hard drive of the seized laptop. Phone numbers of over 150 bigwigs have also been found in their possession. The girls, which the racket bosses sent to the leaders and officials, used to record their sexual encounters on spy cameras. The videos were then used to blackmail the leaders and officials. Local media reports say that some journalists and police officials were also involved in brokering the deal during the blackmail.

FORMER MP'S SUICIDE ATTEMPT

Aarti's gang had also hit a former MP. Dainik Bhaskar's report says that a former MP had tried to commit suicide after Aarti and her gang tried to blackmail him. Congress had thrown the ex-parliamentarian out of the party after the incident.