Varun Gandhi ‘Honey Trapped’, Leaked Defence Secrets: Letter To PM Modi .. Wild allegations, says BJP MP; to sue Prashant Bhushan for defamation

BJP parliamentarian Varun Gandhi leaked crucial information about defence matters to arms manufacturers after being blackmailed with pictures of him with foreign escorts and prostitutes, Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s Office has been told in a letter.

The complaint, dated September 16, is from C Edmonds Allen, a US-based lawyer, who says that Mr Gandhi was used by controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma to disclose defence details to arms manufacturers looking to score contracts for India. Mr Verma and Mr Allen were business partners before they had an epic falling out in 2012. Mr Allen says that as a member of a parliamentary defence committee, Mr Gandhi used his information to “compromise national security.”

According to BJP MP it was a conspiracy theory may be intended at preventing a role for him in the Uttar Pradesh election. Some BJP workers are believed to be in favour of Mr Gandhi being named the party’s presumptive Chief Minister.

Varun Gandhi has threatened to file a criminal defamation suit against senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan and American whistleblower C Edmonds Allen, who claimed that the BJP MP was honey-trapped and compromised by arms dealer Abhishek Verma.

“I didn’t hear a single shred of evidence linking me to any of these wild allegations. I see this as merely as a low attempt to defame me. I will be dealing with this legally forthwith by filing a criminal defamation case against them,” Varun said in his second statement today after reports said Verma blackmailed him.

In a letter to the PMO, Allen has claimed that Varun Gandhi is being blackmailed by Verma after he was honey-trapped while he was a member of the high-profile Defence Consultative Committee, which takes decisions on purchase of major weapons for the army.

The US national, in his letter to the PMO on September 16, has even reportedly given a Compact Disc containing dozens of photographs to back his claim. Copies of the letter have also been sent to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Varun rejected the charges. “I have been a member of the Defence Committee of Parliament, but members of the committee do not have access to any sensitive information. I did not introduce Abhishek to any arms dealers and strongly deny the charge being levelled against me,” Varun said in his first statement today.

But the 36-year-old BJP leader admitted he knew Verma and attended his wedding when he was young.

Verma too, speaking exclusively to India Today TV, denied that he honey-trapped Varun Gandhi and called Allens a blackmailer. “What he is saying is totally false. I did not honey-trap Varun Gandhi. I have not seen the photographs that are being spoken about,” he said.

However, an eyewitness named Vikki told India Today TV that he has seen the incriminating photographs and claimed some of them featured Gandhi. “But they are from 2008 and 2009,” he said.

Meanwhile, senior Supreme Court lawyer and Swaraj India founder Prashant Bhushan today alleged that the Modi government knew about Allen's letter for two months and took no action in a press conference.

"Allen's details show even Verma's wife boasted about being a middleman for many naval projects," he said.

Yadav claimed the PMO had "solid evidence" for two months that till 2011, Verma had all access to army secrets. He said there were two reasons why the BJP did not act.

"One was because their MP (Varun Gandhi) who was in defence committee was in cahoots with the dealers. Second, if the BJP acted, they would have had to blacklist Thales which was also there for the French Rafale aircraft deal. So it would have hurt the Rafale deal," he said