Chhattisgarh ‘sex CD’ scandal: CBI registers cases

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The CBI has registered two cases relating to possession and circulation of a "fake sex CD", allegedly involving a Chhattisgarh minister, who has filed a complaint against senior journalist Vinod Verma for alleged blackmail, an official said on Wednesday.

The case came to light after Verma was arrested from his house in Indirapuram in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district for allegedly blackmailing the minister -- Rajesh Munat -- using the CD.

Verma claimed that the Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was framing him as he possessed the "sex CD".

In October, Munat had claimed that the video was fake and urged Chief Minister Raman Singh for a high-level inquiry.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case, which was earlier registered by the Chhattisgarh Police on the request of the state government and after being notified by the Centre in November.

Munat has called the CD "fake" and an attempt at his "character assassination".

The Chhattisgarh Police registered the first case under sections for extortion and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code on October 26 against unknown persons.

The police said the complainant had received a call on his phone and the unknown caller said that he possessed a pornographic video of his "Aaka" (master) and threatened to distribute CDs of the same in case his demand for ransom was not met.

The second case was registered under the I.T. Act in another police station in Chhattisgarh on October 27 against two accused of the state and some others on the charge that they had circulated the complainant's fake pornographic video on various social media platforms and distributed its CD to malign his name to obtain political mileage.