Prime accused in Bihar sex racket, retired IAS father nabbed in Uttarakhand

The accused, Nikhil Priyadarshini, a businessman, was absconding since his involvement in the racket surfaced last month.
For representational purpose
For representational purpose

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 Patna Police. The duo was arrested during a routine checkup 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 of Patna.

Sources said Priyadarshi’s arrest was possible with the 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 Priyadarshi on December 22, 2016 at the SC-ST police station in Patna alleging that she was sexually exploited. She had also later named a senior State Congress leader, Brajesh Pandey, of molesting her at Nikhil Priyadarshi’s residence and running a sex racket with him. Pandey resigned as vice-president of State Congress after the allegations surfaced, but is still evading arrest.

Nikhil Priyadarsh had recently claimed in a post on social media that he was innocent, but went underground after a local court rejected his anticipatory bail application.

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