A Raipur court on Tuesday sent senior journalist Vinod Verma to judicial remand till November 13.
Notably, on October 27, Verma was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police in connection with an extortion and blackmailing case involving a ‘sex CD’ from his residence in Indirapuram in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
On Saturday, Chhattisgarh Government had decided to hand over the probe of the alleged scandal to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Verma was produced on Sunday evening in heavy security deployment before District Court, Raipur where justice SP Tripathi extended police remand of Verma for three days though police wanted the remand for at least five days.
Media in-charge of State Congress, Gyanesh Sharma informed The Pioneer that counsel Satish Verma advocated for Vinod and urged the Court that as the matter was being of a high profile so the life of his client was in danger.
He requested the court to step up security for Verma in wake of possible life threat to him. He also stated before the court that the charges against his client were of sponsored one.
Before producing to the court, Raipur police took Vinod Verma to the District Hospital for his medical check-up.
Chhattisgarh PWD Minister Rajesh Munat had also filed a complaint against State Congress Chief Bhupesh Baghel and senior journalist Vinod Verma for allegedly tarnishing his image through a “fake” sex CD.
A case was registered on last Friday evening at the Civil lines police station here against Baghel, Verma and others under Section 67 (A) of the Information Technology Act following the minister’s complaint, according to Station House Officer (SHO), Civil lines, Hem Prakash Nayak.
“A copy of the CD has been submitted to the police station and it will be sent for forensic examination,” he said.
Munat, considered close to Chief Minister Raman Singh, was accompanied by State BJP president Dharamlal Kaushik, his over half-a-dozen cabinet colleagues and other party leaders, while filing the complaint.
Talking to reporters, Munat had alleged that the CD in question was fake and urged the Chief Minister to order a probe to find the truth.
“The (sex) CD is fake. It is an attempt to malign my image,” he had stated.