By IANS
New Delhi : Television reporter Prakash Singh, arrested for a fake sting operation showing a woman teacher forcing schoolgirls into prostitution, was Saturday sent to judicial custody till Sep 15 while the teacher is likely to come out of jail Monday.
Prakash Singh was arrested Friday on charges of cheating, fabrication of evidence and criminal conspiracy after he allegedly tried to frame Uma Khurana, a teacher of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya at Asaf Ali road in central Delhi, in a false case of Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.
Police sources said he could also be charged with instigating riots.
“We are investigating his role in instigating riots. He is most likely to be charged with this offence. We are also ascertaining the channel, Live India’s liability and a strict action will be considered if it is also found guilty,” a senior police official told IANS.
Khurana is likely to be set free Monday as police is not going to oppose her bail plea.
A city court sent the reporter to judicial custody till Sep 15.
“Prakash, the reporter of Live India channel, was produced in the court of Ajay Pandey in the Tis Hazari court complex in the afternoon. The judge has remanded him in seven days judicial custody,” said a police official.
Prakash Singh conducted a fake sting operation taking the assistance of an aspiring journalist, Rashmi Singh, who acted as a schoolgirl victim.
The telecast of the staged expose last week triggered large-scale violence as hundreds of angry people gathered outside the school and smashed windowpanes of the building demanding Khurana’s immediate arrest. She was also assaulted and her clothes torn.
The Delhi government, acting quickly on the purported sting report, sacked Khurana.
Asked whether police would now request the court to dismiss the false charges against Khurana, a senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said she would most likely be out on bail.
“She is most likely to get bail possibly because there is no evidence against her, and also she can’t influence the other witnesses as the reporter and the freelance journalist have already been arrested,” the official added.
The police have decided not to oppose the teacher’s bail plea. They could not cancel the charges against Khurana by themselves, the official added, because the matter was now before court.
Khurana was arrested “under direct pressure of the public and indirect pressure from some state officials”, the senior official said.
“We had no option except to arrest her. People blindly believe what television channels show and take action accordingly. There could have been trouble again if she had not been arrested,” the official clarified.
“Investigations reveal that she was framed by Prakash on behalf of a businessman, Virender Arora, who had personal enmity with her,” said another police official.
“Prakash also involved Rashmi, who acted as a schoolgirl in the sting,” said the official investigating the matter.
“Except for the prima facie evidence (now found to be doctored) received on the tapes supplied by the news channel in which Uma Khurana is seen accepting money for arranging a prostitute for the sting operator, journalist Prakash Singh, we have no other direct or indirect evidence on record against her,” the official added.
Police arrested Prakash and Rashmi on charges of cheating, fabrication of evidence and criminal conspiracy for their role in the fake investigative story.
Rashmi Singh was produced in court Friday, where she said she wanted to turn approver in the case. Asked to comment, the police official said the prosecution had not yet decided whether to accept her offer. She was remanded in judicial custody till Sep 15.