Court grants anticipatory bail to LJP MP Prince Raj in alleged rape case

Special Judge Vikas Dhull on Thursday had kept the reserved order on the anticipatory bail plea of Paswan after hearing arguments from both sides.

Delhi Police during the argument had opposed the plea of anticipatory bail petition of the LJP MP.

During the hearing in the court, Public Prosecutor submitted that custodial interrogation was needed to recover the alleged video clips having objectionable content as claimed by the victim.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa along with advocate Nitesh Rana submitted that it is a case of honey trap and extortion. There was no rape victim there, and it's a false case.

Lawyers for Prince Raj further argued that the rape case against his client is a frivolous case.

"My client is innocent. The complainant and her friend have been extorting him since 2020 and my client lodged an FIR of extortion in the Parliament Street Police Station on February 10 this year. She threatened to malign his reputation if he did not pay the extortion amount. He gave her Rs 2 Lakh but the extortion still continued. After the filing of FIR by my client, both the complainant and her friend had to take an anticipatory bail from the court," Rana said.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Prince Raj Paswan, accused in the alleged sexual assault case, on 14th September, had moved an anticipatory bail plea in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, seeking protection from arrest in the matter.

Prince, who is also the president of the Bihar unit of the party, was booked in the national capital on September 9 for allegedly raping a former party member.

Nitesh Rana, the lawyer for Prince Raj, earlier in an interview had said that the complainant/ victim had filed a complaint on May 31 in Parliament Street Police Station but in the preliminary inquiry, police found that there was no offence committed by Prince.

"The complainant had refused to cooperate with the police during the investigation, in the preliminary investigation report, the police found that no offence was committed by my client and this is a pure case of extortion," he added.

The woman, who claims that she was an LJP worker, has alleged that she was raped and molested while she was unconscious. An FIR was registered after the instructions of a Delhi court almost three months after the victim filed a complaint with the police in Delhi. (ANI)