LUCKNOW: Opposition Samajwadi Party national spokesperson IP Singh and two others have been booked by city police for linking BJP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Seth’s son with the Thai woman who recently died of Covid complications at a hospital in the state capital.
“IP Singh and two others, including Mahendra Kuria and Ramdutt Tiwari, were booked by the Gautam Palli police in Lucknow under IPC Section 500 (defamation) and Section 67 of Information and Technology Act on Tuesday, for making tweets/retweeting posts linking the name of the son of BJP Rajya Sabha member with the Thai woman,” Lucknow Police Commissioner DK Thakur said on Tuesday.
Importantly, two days back, the BJP MP Sanjay Seth (who was earlier an SP lawmaker) had submitted a complaint to Lucknow Police, alleging that the SP leader IP Singh and others had maligned his family’s image by linking his son’s name with the Thai woman. He had sought action against Singh and others.
Seth (also a prominent builder) had also sought a detailed probe by Lucknow Police in the matter, after which the Lucknow Police Commissioner had tasked DCP-Lucknow East Sanjiv Suman with probing the high-profile matter.
After the primary probe, the DCP-Lucknow East Sanjiv Suman had told journalists on Monday that the 31-year-old Thai woman, who was in India on a tourist visa, was a certified therapist who worked in a Spa Center in Lucknow owned by one Rakesh Sharma and managed by Salman. “She was working with the 'O2 Thai Spa' and had visited Lucknow in the past also,” the DCP-Lucknow East had said.
The senior police officer also said that the Spa manager Salman, who had got the 31-year-old Tha woman admitted at a hospital in Lucknow on April 28 (where she tested positive before breathing last on May 3), had also got the woman’s body cremated under police supervision.
“Since nothing incriminating has been found in the matter during the probe, action could be initiated against all those who’ve made serious allegations about the public representative and respectable citizen on social media sans any factual evidence,” the DCP-Lucknow East had added.
Earlier on Sunday and Monday, the SP leader IP Singh had made a series of tweets. Quoting local media reports, Singh, while dubbing the Thai woman, ‘call girl,’ had linked her to the BJP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Seth’s son and demanded a CBI probe in the entire matter. He had also shared a picture of Sanjay Seth and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his tweets.
Reacting to a case being registered against him by Lucknow Police, the SP leader IP Singh tweeted on Tuesday: “No probe into the woman’s death, instead FIR has been lodged against those who demanded a probe. Before lodging the case, the police should’ve done proper homework, as using both the sections is illegal. No probe on who concealed the woman’s death and who all met her. If raising such issues and demanding a probe is a crime, then come and arrest me. I’m Covid negative and presently in my native village Ukrauda.”