Uma Khurana's questioning begins, Prakash joins later

New Delhi, Sep 11 (UNI) Uma Khurana, the government school teacher shown pushing students into prostitution in a fake sting operation by a local channel, today came face to face with ''expose'' reporter Prakash Singh during their questioning by Crime Branch sleuths.

While the questioning of Khurana began at about 1130 hrs, Singh joined the interrogation at about 1600 hrs, according to a senior police official.

''While the questioning process began soon after Khurana's arrival at the R K Puram office of the Crime Branch, Singh was brought face to face with her later in the afternoon.'' Singh was asked to appear to corroborate what each of them was saying about the other. ''We had to confront them with what they had spoken about the other and the case. This was necessary to authenticate the information with the police on the entire issue.'' The joint interrogation of Khurana and Singh was continuing even after two hours.

Earlier in the day, police said Khurana had been called to plug 'gaps' and seek clarifications about several parts of the 'story', even as Singh was given into two days Police Custody (PC) by a Delhi court after his four-day Judicial Custody (JC) expired today.

The police argued that it wanted his ''presence'' to verify and corroborate certain references in its investigation.

On the other hand, Khurana's lawyer said his client's plea seeking rest for a day or two after her stint in jail, before she was subjected to questioning, was turned down and she was summoned to appear for interrogation this morning.

Yesterday, Khurana was released from Tihar Jail at about 2015 hrs after Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Alok Aggarwal granted her bail on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 saying ''she is more a victim than an offender''.

In another development, the Delhi High Court sought the 'case diary' of the entire episode from the police by September 12, while asking the Delhi government to consider reviewing her dismissal from the job as the sting operation had been discredited.

However, the police said it was not giving a 'clean chit' to Khurana yet as the case against her still existed.

Khurana, a mathematics teacher of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, was shown running a syndicate of prostitution and making pornographic films, featuring her girl students, in a sting carried out by a reporter of 'Live India' television channel.

The sting, as investigations unfolded, turned out to be fake and the reporter, Singh, was arrested on September 7. He was later sent in seven-day judicial custody the following day.

The same day, the police questioned Sudhir Chaudhary, CEO of 'Live India' for about one-and-a-half hours who told them that the reporterhad not taken the channel into confidence about any of his 'manipulations'.

Singh's arrest by Crime Branch sleuths came a day after the sting 'victim' Rashmi Khanna was arrested.

The airing of the operation on August 30 had led to mob violence near Turkman Gate in Central Delhi's Daryaganj area.

UNI