BHOPAL: Two state government officials whose names recently cropped up in charge-sheet of a high-profile alleged honey-trap racket related case, have been removed as an officer of special duty (OSDs) to two key cabinet ministers of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh.
According to the orders released by the General Administration Department (GAD) the two officials, Harish Kumar Khare and Arun Nigam have been removed as OSDs to two cabinet ministers and shifted back to their parent departments.
While Arun Nigam has been removed as the OSD to Mining and Mineral Resources Minister Pradeep Jaiswal, the other official Harish Kumar Khare has been removed as OSD to Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pradumn Singh Tomar.
Nigam’s services have subsequently been returned to his parent department, the Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department, while Khare’s services have been returned to his parent department Women and Child Development department.
Importantly, both Khare and Nigam’s name had cropped up in the charge-sheet of the honey-trap related human trafficking case, which was filed by the SIT before a court in Bhopal last month.
The names of two officials were mentioned in the seven-page statements of a young girl (among the five women arrested on September 18, 2019, for running the racket) whose father had filed a case of human trafficking against the four women operatives of the racket.
In her statements recorded by the SIT (which were submitted in the court along with charge sheet), the young girl had mentioned that both Khare and Nigam were in contact with one of the key operatives of the racket Arti Dayal. Both of them were also among those who were honey trapped using their sleazy videos that were recorded through hidden cameras.
With both officials now removed as OSD to two key ministers and their services returned to their parent departments, it now remains to be seen whether their parent departments and SIT probing the racket act against them or not.