PATNA: Nikhil Priyadarshi, a high-profile automobile dealer accused of allegedly sexually abusing the minor daughter of a former Congress minister in Bihar, was on Tuesday arrested in Uttarakhand along with his father, Krishna Bihari, a retired IAS officer.
Priyadarshi, who had been evading arrest for the past two months, was nabbed in Lakshmanpur in Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Patna police. The duo was arrested during a routine check-up of vehicles en route to a pilgrim town in the hill state and the Audi car they were travelling in was seized, said Uttarakhand ADGP (law and order) Ram Singh Meena.
“A team of Patna police has been dispatched to bring the duo to Patna. They will be interrogated in connection with the FIR lodged against them by the victim,” said Manu Maharaaj, the senior superintendent of police, Patna.
Sources said Priyadarshi’s arrest was possible with the help of information gleaned from his elder brother Manish Priyadarshi, who was arrested along with three of his friends on Saturday. Patna police officials working on the case had been tracking the mobile phone locations and social media activities of Nikhil Priyadarshi, who is the main accused in the case.
The victim had lodged an FIR against Nikhil, his father Krishna Bihari and his brother Manish on December 22 last year at the SC-ST police station in Patna alleging she was sexually exploited. She had later accused a senior State Congress leader, Brajesh Pandey, of molesting her at Nikhil Priyadarshi’s residence and running a sex racket. Pandey resigned as vice-president of the State Congress after the allegations surfaced, but is still evading arrest.