Honey trap case: Indore bench of MP HC says no reason to transfer probe to CBI

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], September 5 : The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Saturday said that it does not find any reason to transfer the investigation in the Madhya Pradesh honey trap case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A bench of Justices SC Sharma and Shailendra Shukla said, "This Court has carefully gone through the entire cases referred by learned counsel for the parties, heard learned counsel for the parties at length and no material was brought before this Court on the basis of which it could have been held that the investigation has not been done properly by the State of Madhya Pradesh. In light of the aforesaid, this Court does not find any reason to transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation."
The Court said, "The present case is certainly not a case which warrants investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The SIT, constituted in the matter, has carried out an investigation under the supervision of this Court by submitting progress report from time to time and as already stated earlier, this Court has recorded its satisfaction in respect of the investigation carried out by the SIT, and therefore, the prayer of the petitioner for transferring the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation does not arise."
It said the progress report submitted to this Court along with entire material, which was considered by this Court while holding proceeding in camera, has already been returned back to SIT Chief and only one sealed cover, which has been retained for dictating the judgment, has been handed over back to Awdhesh Kumar Goswami, IPS, who is officer incharge of the case.
The SIT, as investigation is going on under Section 178(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall be free to take appropriate steps in accordance with law the moment a report is received from CFSL, Hyderabad and shall also submit progress report to the Principal Registrar of this Court in respect of further action taken in the matter, the court said.
The Court further said that the respondents/State is also directed to take all steps as provided under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for ensuring arrest of other accused persons who are absconding and shall also submit a progress report in respect of the steps taken to arrest the remaining persons who are accused in the criminal cases and shall make all possible endeavours to conclude the investigation under Section 178(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as expeditiously as possible.
"With the aforesaid, the present Writ Petition stands disposed of. The order passed by this Court in the present case shall govern the connected writ petitions also, and therefore, the connected writ petition also stands disposed of," the court added.
A total of six persons, including five women and a man, were arrested in connection with the case.
The matter came to light after an Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) engineer filed a complaint alleging that two women were blackmailing him by threatening to make some objectionable videos viral. The engineer was later suspended from the service by the IMC.