Illicit video purportedly featuring BJP MP sparks political row in Haryana

The video, which surfaced earlier this month, purportedly shows BJP’s Sonipat MP Ramesh Kaushik in a compromising position with a woman. It has gone viral but ThePrint hasn’t been able to verify its authenticity.

Meanwhile, Haryana Police arrested two people – Sonu Malik and Dharmendra Malik – Saturday over another clip in which Biplab Deb, a Rajya Sabha MP, a former chief minister of Tripura and the BJP’s candidate for Tripura West in the upcoming parliamentary election, has been named in connection with the controversy.

In his 15 March complaint filed at Gurugram’s Cyber Crime Police Station – on the basis of which an FIR has been registered – Arun Yadav, the social media head of the BJP’s Gurugram unit, says that the latest clip, which is 2.19 minutes long, was broadcast on a YouTube news channel called ‘The Great Haryana’ earlier this week.

The reporter in the clip cites “secret sources” to claim that the woman in the original video “was first presented to Biplab Deb to please him for a (party) ticket”, the FIR states, adding that the latest clip was meant to “malign” the reputation of the former Tripura chief minister, who doesn’t appear in the original video.

Kaushik, who beat Congress heavyweight and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the 2019 general election, has dismissed the allegations against him as a smear campaign.

The BJP has claimed that the two men arrested Saturday belong to “Team Deepender”, referring to Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, son of Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

“The video, being alleged as a BJP MP’s, is yet to be verified. But to defame our prabhariji (Biplab Deb), Team Deepender Hooda has tried to drag his name into a conspiracy,” Jawahar Yadav, chief spokesperson of the Haryana BJP, told ThePrint over phone. He added that the original video appeared to be from October 2020 – when Deb hadn’t yet been made the Haryana in-charge.

ThePrint reached Deepender Hooda for comment by call and text messages. The Print also reached Savit Kumar, the Station House Officer of Gurugram’s Cyber Crime Police Station, via calls. This report will be updated if and when they respond.

But Deepender’s father Bhupinder Singh Hooda dismissed the BJP’s allegations as “ridiculous”.

“We are political people and believe in fighting politically. The Congress will defeat the BJP convincingly in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections this year. The BJP knows well that the people of Haryana have decided to oust them from the state this time. This is the reason they are indulging in dirty politics,” he told ThePrint.

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What the FIR says

The two suspects in the case have been arrested under sections 500 (defamation), 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code and 67A of the Information and Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, which punishes the publication of ‘sexually explicit act or conduct’ in electronic form.

In his complaint, Arun Yadav claims that the original video is shown to be from 2 October 2023, when Deb was on a visit to Sonipat. However, when he “fact-checked” it, he found that it was from September 2020, when Deb had not yet been appointed BJP’s Haryana in charge, he adds.

Deb was appointed the party’s Haryana in-charge in September 2022.

“Similar videos have also been uploaded by Dharmendra Malik and Sonu Malik of Team Deepender,” the FIR says.

BJP spokesperson Jawahar Yadav claimed that “Team Deepender” was trying to spread misinformation through the video to “tarnish” Deb’s reputation.

“Because our prabhariji is a sitting MP and is contesting for Lok Sabha again, Team Deepender Hooda did this to bring disrepute to the BJP, ” he said.

In a video he shared with the media earlier in the day, the BJP spokesperson said: “Team Deepender Hooda did this conspiracy so that our prabhari ji gets defamed and he is removed from Haryana. The team posted some comments about prabhari ji on Facebook. The words are so bad that I can’t repeat them here because this video is to be circulated widely.”

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)

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