Patna: A top Congress politician who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections in Bihar has gone underground after the police registered a case of sexual abuse of a girl who happens to the daughter of a former minister from his own party. The case was registered against Brajesh Pandey, currently state Congress vice-president, after his name figured in a police report on a well-organised sex racket, allegedly being run by an automobile dealer Nikhil Priyadarshi. Priyadarshi is the son of a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
Police said the fugitive has been charged under the law on sexual crime against children and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences. The case was registered on Tuesday evening with the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Police station in Patna after the police found the charges prima facie true in the course of their investigation.
“The police are conducting intensive raids to arrest the accused. We hope to nab him very soon,” the inspector general of police in Patna, Anil Kishore Yadav, told media on Wednesday.
According to the victim, the main accused, Priyadarshi, lured her in the name of marriage and then he and Pandey sexually abused her. “The accused persons have wide contacts with many political bigwigs in Delhi and wanted to supply me to them,” the victim alleged, adding the Congress leader sexually tortured her when she refused their proposition.
Meanwhile, Pandey resigned as Congress vice-president shortly after his name figured in the sex racket case. In his resignation letter, sent to the state president, Pandey alleged he was being wrongfully implicated and called it a deep-rooted conspiracy. “I am a true soldier of the party but don’t want the party to get defamed due to me. Hence, I am resigning from the post,” Pandey said in his letter.
The party has accepted his resignation.
“His resignation has been accepted by the party,” party’s state spokesperson, Harkhu Jha, told the media Wednesday.
Priyadarshi who is said to be running Asia’s largest car showroom has also gone into hiding since the scandal surfaced in December. Reports said the victim came into contact with the accused following a missed call on her number.
Subsequently, they both began to chat. Having gained her confidence, the accused called her to his residence on the pretext of marriage and sexually exploited her. Soon he began using this video clip to blackmail her frequently until she finally decided to register a case against him with the police.
