Trafficking Case

BHOPAL: The honeytrap ring that targeted powerful ministers and bureaucrats in MP — perhaps the biggest such extortion syndicate in the country — had a ‘target list’ of senior IAS officers, who they had marked under codes to record who all had fallen for their lure and could now be extorted.The question is, who pulled the strings? Who handled this all-woman sex and blackmail syndicate, and who gave them the targets?The SIT, which is probing the sex and blackmail syndicate, has come across a list of 13 IAS officers — who served at different points of time in fisheries, agriculture, culture, industries, urban administration, labour, forest, water resources, public relations and general administration departments — that the women kept, say sources.Read Also: India's 'biggest' sex scandal: 4,000 smut files of VIPs tumble out in Madhya Pradesh honeytrap probeThe ring handler had created the ‘hit list’ from pages of a government diary, with ticks & codes scribbled against their names. Names of some officers were encircled, and some marked ‘Imp’ or ‘Ok’. Some had ticks marked against their names. Police are trying to crack these signs and words meant to the gang, said an official. How many of them got hooked is still a matter of investigation, but police have recovered clips of a few officials from the women’s cellphones, said sources. Inspectors are facing a rather embarrassing time compiling lurid details and transcripts of the seized sex clips.“All honey-trapped officials who are identified in these video clips will be showcaused, regardless of post or seniority, after a forensic analysis,” said a senior IPS officer. Police have found that one of the IAS officers snared in the honeytrap had even changed his cadre to shake them off.Nearly 4,000 files containing screenshots of sex chats, videos of officers in compromising positions , and audio clips have so far been extracted from the laptops and mobile phones confiscated from the honeytrap ring.Five more girls, who were allegedly used by this pan-India quid-pro-quo sex syndicate, have been identified. Some are said to be teenagers. SIT is yet to decide on a line of action on these girls, but sources say they are investigating the possibility that some of them may be minors.CID on Wednesday registered a case of human trafficking against three of the honeytrap suspects on the basis of a complaint lodged by the father of the youngest accused, an 18-year-old. She was arrested on the basis of an extortion complaint by Indore Municipal Corporation engineer Harbhajan Singh, and is in police custody.After being suspended by IMC, Singh is in shock. “He was annoyed by the daily demands of money from these girls. He only wanted them to get rid of them with a formal complaint,” said a police officer. Many believe that he became the scapegoat of a senior bureaucrat, who was himself honeytrapped.