Kavita (top), Pradhan

Lucknow, Dec. 25: Kavita Chaudhary would use her youth and allure to ensnare high-profile politicians while her partners-in-crime would watch through a hidden camera, police said. But the 29-year-old lecturer seems to have fallen victim to her own devious schemes.

A tale of sex, politics and blackmail unfolded from the heartland today after Uttar Pradesh police claimed that the missing Meerut university teacher was murdered on October 24 by her accomplices after a dispute over sharing the spoils.

The police said Kavita, who was abducted the day before, was drugged and throttled by Ravindra Pradhan, one of the accused who surrendered yesterday, and then thrown into a canal.

The body of the lecturer — whom a colleague in Chaudhary Charan Singh University remembered as “smart, bubbly and eager to help” — hasn’t been found yet.

In Meerut, SSP Navneet Sikera said Pradhan told the police that he and Kavita were involved in blackmailing ministers and VIPs, after secretly photographing them in compromising positions with her.

“Pradhan said he had bought a camera from Delhi in July. Kavita, Pradhan and another associate, Jogendra, formed a gang and used the camera to record intimate scenes between these VIPs and Kavita,” the officer added.

Among those caught in the act was Md Merazuddin, a former irrigation minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, who Pradhan said paid Rs 35 lakh to save his reputation. The money was to be shared by Kavita, Pradhan and Jogendra, but the lecturer was apparently given much less than her share, Sikera said. So she began blackmailing them.

Her partners hit back soon.

Kavita must have had a premonition because, before leaving her house on October 23, she wrote in her diary: “If anything happens to me, he will be responsible.”

Sikera said the police were trying to find out if Kavita, who used five cellphones to be in touch with VIPs, and the others had snared any other minister or political leader. “But the police have got evidence to show that the murder was the result of sex-on-camera involving VIPs and a saga of blackmail.”

Another minister, Chaudhary Babulal, whose cellphone details revealed he had spoken to Kavita nearly 60 times, said she used to “ask for favours” from ministers. “My calls were in response to her missed calls. ”