Sex CD row: Chhattisgarh Cong leaders court arrest

Abiding by Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupesh Baghel's call for "jail bharo," many prominent Congress leaders in the state staged a protest across the state on Tuesday and courted arrested by the police.

The Congress declared that the party will continue the agitation on Wednesday at block headquarters and on Thursday at the district headquarters in Chhattisgarh. They will court arrest after staging the demonstrations.

After Baghel denied to take bail in the sex CD case on Monday — when he was made an accused in the case — the party made a statewide call for "jail bharo" movement and to reach Raipur.

From Tuesday morning Congress leaders from different parts of the state, who were trying to reach Raipur, were being detained. The police have also searched their houses and have kept them under house arrest. The few who had left home before the police arrived were picked up from the road and taken to police stations nearby. This happened in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Lormi, Jagdalpur among other parts of the state.

The situation continued in the evening, too. In Rajnandgaon, three MLAs Bhojram Sahu, Dileshwar Sahu and Girwar Janghel along with party workers were arrested.

In Bilaspur, CPCC office-bearers Atal Shrivastava, who was recently injured in cane charge, and Dilip Leharia were picked up by the police near Chakarbhata and kept at the police station. In Durg, MLA Arun Vora and other senior leaders were arrested from his residence. Party leaders Madan Jain and Vincent DSouza were confined in the house. They had a heated argument with the police, but the police did not budge.

In Raipur, AICC general secretary P L Punia, Raipur Rural MLA Satyanarayan Sharma along with other key leaders were arrested and sent to the central jail. T S Singhdeo, the leader of Opposition, was also sent to the central jail.

Congress leaders said that the CBI has not taken any action in the Jheeram Valley incident even after years, but the police have been prompt in the sex CD scandal.

Reacting on the action taken by the BJP against main accused in sex CD scandal Kailash Murarka, Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said, "The BJP opened its eyes only when the CPCC chief was sent to jail, but they should also take action against their own leader involved in the scandal."

He said that Muraka had once addressed someone who knew of the sex CDs as "saheb" and "boss", and that the BJP should make it clear who "saheb" was. He also questioned the lack of action taken against Murarka.

He further said, "Murarka received Rs 75 lakh for it. Who funded it? He should be brought before the public. It should be made public as to who Murarka met."

Meanwhile, Murarka did not appear before the court for a hearing, and he was also expelled from the BJP on Tuesday.