Madhya Pradesh honeytrap case: HC relief to Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Govind Singh; PIL against them dismissed 

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Govind Singh in connection with the alleged CD of the honeytrap scandal.

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The petition claimed that on the basis of the alleged statements made by both the Congress leaders (Nath and Singh) that they possess the purported CD of the honeytrap scandal, they should be directed to hand over the CD to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police in the interest of fair investigation in the matter.

While Kamal Nath served as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh from December 2018 to March 2020, Govind Singh was a minister in his cabinet.

Indore lawyer Bhupendra Singh Kushwaha had filed this petition against them in 2023.

A division bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi dismissed the petition on July 10 after considering the facts of the case.

The bench said, "In this matter, a chargesheet has been filed long back and trial is underway. So far as the statement of these two political persons is concerned, the petitioner came to know about the statement from the news published in the newspaper. Petitioner has no personal knowledge about the CD being in their possession." "It is a settled law that the court cannot take cognisance of news published in the newspaper without there being any substantive proof. Petitioner has also not filed any affidavit that the CD is in their possession. Therefore, this court cannot take cognizance in the matter," it said.

Officials said five women members of the honeytrap gang and their driver were arrested from Bhopal and Indore in September 2019.

In the chargesheet submitted in the court on December 16, 2019, the police said this organised gang used young women, brought to Bhopal through human trafficking, to trap rich people and those holding high positions.

Thereafter, videos of intimate moments captured using hidden cameras, screenshots of social media chats and objectionable material used to be collected. On the basis of this, they used to blackmail such people and extort money from them.

The SIT was formed to conduct a detailed investigation into this case which created a storm in the political circles of the state.