Nangal scandal: Scribe booked, aide arrested

Nangal, March 8

Had a local journalist not compromise with his professional ethics, the alleged sexual abuse of Nangran school students at the hands of their principal could have been unearthed years ago.

Instead of exposing the prime accused, school principal Amritpal Dhiman, a journalist running a web portal in Nangal having material evidence allegedly took money from him to hush up the case. Though the journalist is at large, Naresh Kumar, a resident of Sangatpur village, who provided him objectionable pictures was arrested by the police today.

The police have already arrested Dhiman and his friend Shiv Kumar in the case.

According to sources, Kumar, who was first to get hold of the obscene pictures and video clips of students, had prepared two CDs in 2015 and handed these over to some prominent people of local villages, who wanted the case to be brought to the notice of senior politicians of the area for action against the principal.

As Dhiman, being a supporter of the Congress, wielded clout in the area, the villagers were unable to get action initiated against Dhiman. However, they did not return the CDs to Kumar, said sources. Kumar was also not sure about whether the CDs had actually reached senior politicians, said the sources.

Meanwhile, Naresh Kumar, an acquaintance of Kumar, got hold of the pictures and video clips from him. According to sources, he handed over a few of the pictures to a local journalist, who instead of exposing Dhiman, demanded Rs 7 lakh from him to hush up the case. The deal was finalised at Rs 3.5 lakh, said the sources.

Ropar SSP Vivek Sheel Soni confirmed a journalist had been booked and Naresh arrested in the case. The role of both in the case was still under investigation, he added.