JAIPUR, May 19: Eight of the accused in the infamous photo blackmail sex racket of Ajmer were on Monday convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by District Judge Kanhaiya Lal Vyas, according to Assistant Director Prosecutor CP Bhargav.Of the remaining eight accused, Farooq Chishti, a former Youth Congress leader, was reported to have lost his mental balance and turned schizophrenic. His trial is still pending. Another accused, Purushottam, was said to have committed suicide with his wife soon after he was released on bail on March 8, 1994.Six others, including the two main accused, Nafees Chishti and Sohail Ghani, had disappeared and remain traceless. The court has directed authorities to find and arrest them as soon as possible, said CP Bhargav.The judgement came after six years of tortuous proceedings. The racket when it came to light had shaken the town dwellers and shocked the country with its magnitude, depravity and perversion. A place known for Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti's dargah and Brahmatemple became identified with the most heinous sex racket of the country.It was a tough case to build, with most of the victims reluctant to come forward and pursue the matter. Of the girls suspected to have been subjected to rape and blackmail, 30 were identified in the investigations; only about a dozen had filed cases and of these 10 later backed out. Only two resolutely pursued the case, said prominent woman activist Kavita Srivastav.Most of the victims faced harassment and threats with no support from the society and even the families. According to Kavita Srivastav, about half a dozen girls were suspected to have been driven to suicide. Ajmer Mahila Samooh, which tried to take up the cause of the victims, soon withdrew following threats to its activists. With reluctance of girls to come forward, it was the photographs and videos used for blackmail which came in handy in identifying the accused and building the case against them.Considering the problems, today's order was a truly remarkableachievement, said Srivastav.
