The Meerut Love jihad case is turning into a further embarrassment for the BJP as the victim says her family was paid some money by a BJP leader.

The Meerut 'love jihad' case is turning into a further embarrassment for the BJP which had raked up the issue when it was first reported. After the victim changed her statement saying she was forced to give a false statement of gangrape and forced into conversion by her family members, she has now claimed that a BJP party official paid her family Rs 25,000 and had offered them more money to stick to their stand.

According to a report in the Times of India, the girl named BJP's Vineet Agarwal as the person who gave her family the money while the party leader has replied that he paid the family to aid them since they were poor.

"My help should not be linked with politics. Had she been of any other religion, I would have helped just the same," Agarwal was quoted as saying in the report.

The girl's father also admitted that while Hindu groups helped them with money, he stressed that it was because they were poor and not for other reasons. He also denied his daughter's claim that she was being beaten by her family members and faced threats to her life.

The new statement will come as a further embarrassment for BJP which had played up the issue during the by-poll elections that were held in the state. BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, who was in-charge of the BJP's by-poll election campaign in the state, had taken the vitriol in the campaign to an all new high by talking of how Hindus should convert a 100 Muslisms for each Hindu girl who was converted due to this alleged 'love jihad'. BJP's UP president Laxmikant Bajpai had also extensively talked about 'love jihad' during the party's meet ahead of the poll, but eventually the term was not used in the party's resolution.

With the girl now claiming that a BJP leader paid her family, it raises serious questions about the role played by the party in the matter.

Meanwhile, the police have registered a case of assault and threat to murder against the parents of the girl. Two days after the girl claimed that there is a threat to her life from her parents, police registered a case under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against them.

The matter is sub-judice, Singh said, adding, investigation will be started on the directions of the court after the girl records her statement. The girl had filed a complaint on Sunday with the Mahila Police Station against her parents, saying that she had run away from her house on her own free will with Kaleem, a Muslim, as there was "threat to her life" and alleged that she was also "beaten up".

In an earlier complaint lodged on August 3, the girl had alleged that she had been abducted, gang-raped and forcibly converted to Islam. The woman's father had also lodged a complaint in August in Kharkhauda police station against Village Pradhan Nawab Khan, cleric Sallaullah, his wife and daughter Nishant for abduction and rape.

However, the girl approached the woman police station on Sunday and claimed that there is a threat to her life from her parents', SP (Rural) Captain M S Begh had said. According to the complaint, her family had forced her to file a false complaint and when she objected, they threatened her with dire consequences and that she ran away fearing danger to her life.

The alleged victim said that she had "gone on her own free will" with the boy, controverting what she had said in her Sec 164 (of the CrPC) statement to a magistrate. However, the father of the girl has disputed her claim and said she has been threatened to give a retraction statement by one Saddam who forcibly took her to the woman police station on Sunday morning.

The father of the girl has found support from Hindu groups who also see a conspiracy in this u-turn by the girl.

The police said that after recording her statement in front of an executive magistrate, she has been sent to Nari Niketan (women's home) for her safety and protection.

The matter of alleged gang-rape and conversion in August was latched up by the BJP whose leaders including Yogi Adityanath, state in charge of by-elections, exploited the issue of 'love jihad', especially in western parts of the state.

Meanwhile other political parties, including the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), slammed the BJP for stoking up a non-issue. They added that it was BJP which has orchestrated the entire drama initially.

"The BJP owes an explanation to the people on why it raked up the matter which was unsubstantiated," said Rajendra Chowdhary, state cabinet minister and party spokesman. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari has sought a detailed probe into the whole episode and said the role of everyone should be scrutinised.

While the case appears to have weakened given the u-turn taken by the victim, neither the BJP nor the Hindu groups can escape the embarrassment caused by the case.

With agency inputs