Maha Congress Leader Alleges Honey Trap Linked Praful Lodha Made Rs 200 Crore

Former opposition leader and Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar said on Wednesday that honey trap-linked Praful Lodha, who is considered close to Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, allegedly made Rs 200 crore after screening sugar-trap videos.

“There is a very big honey trap racket. Many big fish are trapped in it. Around 50 ministers and officials are trapped in it. Big officials, many former and current ministers, are involved in the honey trap. The one whose name has come up is Praful Lodha, who has taken money from many people. He has made at least Rs 200 crore. I will not say whose worker or from which party he is, but the entire matter will be revealed soon. Many hidden faces will also come to the fore,” Vijay Wadettiwar said.

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“(Congress leader) Nana Patole had alleged on the floor of the assembly last week that the Mantralaya, Nashik, and Thane had become honeytrap centres. A pen drive was also shown in the house in this regard. The Assembly Speaker asked the government to make a statement about the honey trap issue. But even after his suggestion, the government did not make a statement about it. Instead, the Chief Minister said that there is neither any honey nor any trap. The Chief Minister had ridiculed these allegations,” Vijay Wadettiwar said.

Meanwhile, the Andheri police have arrested Praful Lodha, who has already been arrested twice for allegedly sexually abusing two minor girls and raping a woman on the pretext of getting her a job.

Praful Lodha is a businessman from Jamner in Jalgaon, which also happens to be the hometown of BJP’s Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, who is a close confidant of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The police have seized Lodha’s laptop, mobile, and pen drive.

In a related development, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and former minister Eknath Khadse claimed that Praful Lodha was arrested in a honey trap case because he has confidential details regarding the case.

“Lodha may reveal unknown details about many leaders, including BJP’s Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, and therefore, he was trapped and arrested in a honey trap case. We demand that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe this case,” Khadse said.

Praful Lodha, who has been accused by the opposition of being involved in an alleged honey-trapping operation used to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2022, has also been booked by Pune’s Bavdhan police on the charge of sexually assaulting a 36-year-old woman under the pretext of helping her husband secure a job and later threatening to take away her job after she refused to have sex with him.

At the moment, Praful Lodha is in the custody of the Mumbai police in connection with similar cases registered at MIDC and Andheri East Sakinaka police stations.