Did Meti land in a honey-trap?

Bengaluru:/Hubballi: Former excise minister H Y Meti and his family have reportedly shifted to Bengaluru from his home town Bagalkot after the sex CD scandal.
On Friday, his official residence in Navangar of Bagalkot wore a deserted look. Umesh Meti, his younger son said his father was in Bengaluru and he would return to Bagalkot soon.
Some party workers and staunch followers of Meti visited his home town Thimmapur in Bagalkot where his son stays.There are also reports the minister is in Goa or some other state.
The woman, reportedly seen in the CD and police constable Subhash Mughalkhod, have gone missing after the CD went viral. Sources said while she may be taking shelter at a relative’s house in a village in Bagalkot, Mughalkod left the place after taking three months medical leave even before the CD was made public. Police have reportedly launched a hunt for both them to record their statements.
Meanwhile, the buzz is whether Meti was a victim of a honey-trap. If his close associates are to be believed, he was allegedly honey-trapped and blackmailed by people who knew him well. Preliminary investigation by local police revealed he may have been targeted by some officials and a former gunman in a honey-trap.
“The CD was handed over to RTI activist M Rajashekar only after the minister allegedly failed to pay the blackmailers,’’ said a police officer, who was part of the preliminary investigation.
Some senior Congress MLAs, with whom Meti shared his trauma before he resigned on December 14, added: “They had shot 12 video clips of the minister a month ago at different places by using a vanity bag spy camera for more than 30 minutes and released only one to defame him. In one clip, another MLA is also seen.”
According to them, some excise inspectors, upset with Meti for not acknowledging their transfer requests for plum posts, allegedly hatched the plot and Meti’s former gunman, who had been ousted on charges of indiscipline and corruption, was reportedly the mastermind.
The MLAs said the minister, recovering from a spinal cord injury, was looking for a physiotherapist. His former friends who knew about this used a decoy to honey-trap him. A week later, the suspects sent the photos and CD to the minister seeking a huge sum of money and postings for excise and police officials. A local TV reporter was also used to bargain on their behalf.
After Meti refused to pay up, the suspects reportedly met former BJP minister Murgesh Nirani but he refused to make it public stating that Meti was his one-time political guru. Nirani said he knew about the entire CD episode but did not want to advantage of it.
A Congress MLA alleged that chief minister Siddaramaiah could have done some damage control by sacking the minister because he had known about it three weeks ago but chose to depute a retired IPS officer to do the cover-up.
Meti’s supporters insist an investigation must be conducted to verify their allegations. “We’re not defending the minister’s actions but we want the blackmailers to be nailed,” said a senior MLA close to Meti.