Senior journalist Vinod Verma who has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing a Chattisgarh minister in connection with a 'sex CD' said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg".
Senior journalist Vinod Verma who has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing a Chattisgarh minister in connection with a 'sex CD' said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg".
Verma made the comment when he was taken to Mana police station in Raipur on Saturday night, on his three-day transit remand.
On October 27, Verma was arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police in connection with extortion and blackmailing case involving a state minister, who called it 'fake' and an attempt at character assassination.
A day after he was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police, an FIR was also lodged against the state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and Verma.
Verma, who earlier worked with BBC Hindi service and Amar Ujala, was denied bail and Chhattisgarh police has been given his transit remand till October 30 after he was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Archna in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Verma is also a member of Editors Guild of India.
Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh government has recommended a CBI probe. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh at the Secretariat here, state's Revenue Minister Prem Prakash Pandey told reporters.
He said the Cabinet held a discussion on the purported video and decided to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the issue.
Asked if Chhattisgarh PWD Minister Rajesh Munot, allegedly involved in the row, will step down from his post till the investigation gets completed, he said, "How can a state minister influence a CBI probe?"
Accusing the Congress of hatching a conspiracy, the minister said his party has already stated that the CD was fake and even a local TV channel in its report mentioned that it has been tampered with.
Raipur Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Shukla claimed that about 500 'porn' CDs, Rs 2 lakh in cash, a pen drive, a laptop and a diary were seized from the journalist's residence, who was picked up at 3.30 am from Mahagun Mansion Apartments in Indirapuram by a team of the Chhattisgarh Police with the help of the Ghaziabad Police.
The SP said that Verma has been booked under Section 67 (A) Information Technology (IT) Act for possessing pornographic material.
As Verma was being escorted by police, he claimed that the Chhattisgarh government was not happy with him as it suspected that he had a 'sex CD of Chhattisgarh PWD minister Rajesh Munot' and suggested he was being framed.
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