Former Madhya Pradesh finance minister Raghavji, facing sodomy charges, was released on bail from the Central jail here on Wednesday.
Seventy nine-year-old Raghavji, who was in jail for over 34 days, was granted bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on August 12 on the grounds of old age and health condition.He was released on Wednesday afternoon after the due formalities were completed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Pandey. The former minister, who was expelled from BJP following the charges against him, told reporters outside the jail complex that he was ready to contest this year’s Assembly elections, if the party asks him.
He said that he had been victim of a conspiracy though he did not tell that who was behind the conspiracy. “I have come to know that the party has expelled me. Now I will meet the party leaders, especially with the State president Narendra Singh Tomar, with whom I have great expectations.” The former minister said that he would appraise the party leadership with his point of view over the issue as he was expelled from the party without knowing his side. “Days inside the prison were very difficult as I was wrongly implicated in false case, else I have gone to jail earlier for political reasons, but this time it was difficult to pass time in there,” he added.
Raghavji was arrested from a flat in Bhopal on July 9 after his servant alleged that he was sodomised by the minister for nearly three-and-a-half years on the promise of getting him a Government job. The matter was exposed by the victim by preparing his purported CDs of the sexual act. After the exposure, Raghavji resigned from the Cabinet and was later expelled by BJP.