The arrest of former BBC journalist Vinod Vermaby the Chhattisgarh police from his residence in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad early Friday on allegations of attempted extortion on the basis of an alleged sex CD?involving a Chhattisgarh minister has snowballed into a slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.

Verma, sent on transit remand by a Ghaziabad court, was allegedly in possession of a CD showing the minister in a compromising position with a woman, police said. Verma, a member of the Editors’ Guild of India, has formerly worked for BBC and Amar Ujala.

The journalist who has been booked under sections 384 and 506 of the Indian penal code (IPC) for extortion and intimidation, rubbished the police’s claims that he had a sex CD.

“Someone gave me a 1 minute 31 seconds clip on a pen drive on October 24 and as a back-up I saved it on my laptop…. The police have planted the CD on me. It is a political conspiracy of framing me in a false case and arresting me since I am looking after the social media campaign of Congress Party in Chhattisgarh. ,” Vinod Verma told Hindustan Times.