Court reserves order on LJP MP Prince Raj’s anticipatory bail plea in rape case

PTI, Sep 23, 2021, 7:27 PM IST

New Delhi: A Delhi court will pronounce on Saturday its order on an application moved by Lok Janshakti Party MP Prince Raj, seeking protection from arrest in a rape case.

Special judge Vikas Dhull reserved the order on the anticipatory bail plea of Raj on Thursday after hearing arguments from his counsel as well as the Delhi Police.

During the arguments, police opposed the application and sought Raj’s custodial interrogation.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Raj, told the court that there was no entry of the alleged victim in the visitor’s list in Raj’s official residence here, where the offence allegedly took place on the date claimed by her.

He told the court that the alleged victim and her male friend were extorting money and blackmailing his client since 2020.

Raj, the nephew of the late Ram Vilas Paswan and cousin of Chirag Paswan, is a Member of Parliament from Samastipur in Bihar.

Advocate Nitesh Rana, also representing Raj, further raised the question on the complainant”s claim, and asked how did a video clip recorded at her residence came into the possession of the politician as claimed by her?

Police submitted before the court that it needed his custody to recover the alleged video clips having objectionable content as claimed by the alleged victim.

In his application, Raj had told the court that the alleged victim and her male friend were extorting money and blackmailing his client since 2020.

It claimed that the woman and her friend had demanded Rs one crore and threatened to file a false complaint against Raj if he failed to pay the money.

A case was earlier filed in that regard on February 10 this year in Parliament police station, in which the woman and her associate were granted anticipatory bail in July, it said.

It said that on May 31, meanwhile, the woman filed a complaint against his client for allegedly raping her.

It further said that the woman later approached the court seeking registration of an FIR against Paswan on her complaint, following which the court had sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from police.

In its ATR, the police submitted before the court that nothing was found on her complaint and that it was a matter of extortion, the application said.

Delhi Police filed an FIR on September 9 against Raj on the directions of a court here.

The woman, who claims that she was an LJP worker, has accused Raj of raping her while she was unconscious.