Delhi Police opposes LJP MP's anticipatory bail plea in rape case, says custodial interrogation needed

Representative image
Representative image

New Delhi [India], September 16 (ANI): The Delhi Police on Thursday opposed the anticipatory bail petition of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP Prince Raj Paswan who is seeking interim protection from arrest.

During the hearing in court, Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat submitted, "We need his custodial interrogation to recover the alleged video clips having objectionable content as claimed by the victim."

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa and Advocate Nitesh Rana submitted that this is a case of honey trap and extortion. There is no rape victim here and it's a false case, they said.

Lawyers for Prince Raj argued that the rape case against their client is frivolous. Their client is innocent. The complainant and her friend have been extorting money from him since 2020 and their client lodged an FIR of extortion in the Parliament Street Police Station on February 10 this year. She threatened to malign his reputation if he did not pay the extortion amount. He gave her Rs 2 Lakh but the extortion still continued. After the filing of FIR by my client, both the complainant and her friend had to take an anticipatory bail from the court, the lawyers said.

Special Judge MK Nagpal on Thursday after hearing the lengthy arguments in the matter, adjourned the matter for Friday.

The victim/complainant girl herself was present in the court during the hearing and made certain allegations against LJP leader.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Prince Raj Paswan, accused of sexual assault, on Tuesday had moved an anticipatory bail plea in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, seeking protection from arrest in the matter.

Prince, who is also the president of the Bihar unit of the party, was booked in the national capital on September 9 for allegedly raping a former party member.

Nitesh Rana, lawyer for Prince Raj, had said earlier in an interview that the complainant/victim had filed a complaint on May 31 in Parliament Street Police Station but in the preliminary inquiry, police found that there was no offence committed by Prince.

"The complainant had refused to cooperate with the police during the investigation. In the preliminary investigation report, the police found that no offence was committed by my client and this is a pure case of extortion," he added.

The woman, who claims that she was an LJP worker, has alleged that she was raped and molested while she was unconscious. An FIR was registered on the instructions of a Delhi court almost three months after the victim filed a complaint with the police in Delhi. (ANI)