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Six held for running honeytrapping-blackmailing racket
    (Eds: Updating, adding details)
    Bhopal, Sep 19 (PTI) Five women and a man have been
arrested in Indore and Bhopal for allegedly running a honey-
trapping and blackmailing racket.
    One of the accused had rented a house owned by former
state minister and BJP MLA Brijendra Pratap Singh.
    Aarti Dayal (29), Monica (18), Shweta Vijay Jain (39),
Shweta Swapnial Jain (48), Barkha Soni (34) and Omprakash Kori
(45) were arrested over the last two days.
    Electronic gadgets including spy cameras, cash, mobile
phones and a high-end SUV were recovered from their
possession.
    Indore Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ruchi
Vardhan Misra said the arrests followed a complaint lodged by
an engineer with the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) that
he was being blackmailed by the accused.
    Shweta Vijay Jain allegedly introduced Aarti Dayal to
this IMC official eight months ago, the SSP said.
    The two became friends. During one meeting, a video
clip was shot, and later the accused demanded Rs 3 crore from
the official, threatening to make the clip public if he did
not cough up the money.
    After he appraoched the police, a trap was laid. The
official told the accused that he would pay Rs50 lakh in the
first instalment. When Aarti and Shweta Jain arrived in Indore
in an SUV to collect the money, the two, along with their
driver Kori, were arrested.
    After quizzing them, police arrested three more women
from Bhopal, SSP Misra said.
    Shweta Swapnial Jain (48), one of the accused, had
rented a house from Panna BJP MLA Brijendra Pratap Singh at
the posh Rivierra Town here.
    Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh minister, said he had
nothing to do with Jain except that she was his tenant.
    "I am ready to face any inquiry. I had let my house to
her through a broker since September 1, that was all," the MLA
told PTI. "The broker had told me it was a good family," he
added.
    Asked about the Congress' accusation that many BJP
leaders were involved in the racket, he said the government
was free to carry out a probe through any investigation
agency.
    State home minister Bala Bachchan said in Indore that
nobody, whether an official or a politician, would be spared
if found involved in the racket.
    Asked about rumours that some politicians and IAS and
IPS officers were involved, additional superintendent of
police Amarendra Singh said it was too early to comment.
    The accused were produced before a court in Indore
which remanded them in police custody for three days, ASP
Singh said. PTI CORS LAL MAS
KRK KRK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)