Leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) among others are reportedly involved in India’s “biggest ever quid pro quo sex scandal”, reported Times of India.
The scandal came to the forefront after a honeytrap probe was launched in Madhya Pradesh. At least 4,000 files have till date been recovered during the ongoing investigation.
“It could turn out to be the biggest ever quid pro quo sex scandal in the country as the investigation progresses,” said an officer.
Leaders of the Congress party, senior and junior bureaucrats are also involved.
According to the Indian daily, screenshots of sex chats, videos of naked officers and audio clips have been extracted from the laptops and cell phones which were confiscated in the probe.
The Indian publication reported that women as young as 18, often visited an elite club in Bhopal where rooms were booked by senior bureaucrats.
“There are inputs that the check-in registers of the club are missing and efforts are on to manipulate other records that have images of these girls. This includes CCTC cameras,” an officer said.
A daunting task lies ahead for the Indian Police as they are trying to stop these pictures and videos from falling into the wrong hands.
“The basic line of investigation should be the quid pro quo deals. The officers concerned should be charged under Prevention of Corruption Act,” said an officer and added that seeking and accepting sexual favours is considered a bribe under the new anti-corruption law, and it carries a seven-year jail.
India’s Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, incorporates the umbrella term ‘undue advantage’, which means any gratification other than legal remuneration and includes expensive dub memberships and hospitality, said the officer, adding the word ‘gratification’ is not limited to money.
“Once investigations are done, honey-trapped government officials can be booked for seeking and accepting sexual favours,” he further said.
