Kavita was a blackmailer: Accused

LUCKNOW: It’s a sensational story of sex, avarice, deceit and blackmail.

Meerut University lecturer Dr Kavita Rani Chaudhry, who had been missing for the last two months, had been murdered on October 24. On Monday, the main accused Ravindra Pradhan confessed before the media of strangling Kavita after drugging her with the help of an associate Yogesh. The erstwhile partners reportedly had a fall-out over the sharing of money.

The breakthrough has brought a heap of embarrassment for the Mulayam Singh government, since Pradhan named at least three senior politicians of being indirectly involved in the murky episode. The three include  Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Merajuddin, who was the state irrigation minister till recently, Brijendra Pratap Singh, chairman of a state corporation with the rank of a Minister of State and RP Singh, former Meerut University V-C who was dismissed on charges of financial bungling over a year ago. Brijendra is now in former prime minister VP Singh’s Jan Morcha.

Pradhan claimed that Kavita ran a sex racket and disclosed that Kavita had blackmailed Merajuddin into paying Rs 35 lakh for an X-rated CD shot with a hidden camera in the bedroom of his official bungalow in Lucknow earlier this year. To top it all, it was alleged that the state food processing minister Babulal Chaudhry would frequently speak to Kavita on phone, while state basic education minister Kiran Pal Singh was initially reported to be shielding Pradhan.

Kavita’s brother Satish has demanded a CBI inquiry saying the police were trying to shield the culprits.

Meerut SSP Navneet Sikera, who presented Pradhan before the media, said that the accused that thrown Kavita’s body in the Dadri canal at Ghaziabad. He told DNA that there was no evidence yet of the involvement of the other two ministers. “We would question everyone whose name has figured in the case, but our first priority as of now is to find Kavita’s body and to corroborate whatever Pradhan has told us,” he said. The SSP said Pradhan had also told the police that Kavita had made CDs of at least two other influential people, though these CDs have not been recovered. He said the police were also looking for Surendra, Harendra and Trilok Pradhan, the three other accused in the case.

Kavita had mentioned the names of these three along with Ravindra Pradhan’s in a letter which was found by the police in her hostel room. The letter stated that Ravindra had been threatening to kill her and that she feared for her life.

Meanwhile, Merajuddin has denied the charges, describing it as a “political conspiracy” to tarnish his image. He told reporters that he would stay away from public life till his name was cleared but “allegations by a murder accused should not be taken seriously”.