A local court on Thursday granted bail to senior scribe Vinod Verma, arrested on charges of extortion after allegedly possessing and circulating a sleaze CD purportedly featuring a senior Minister in the Chhattisgarh Government.
The bail was given as the prosecution failed to file chargesheet against Verma, arrested from his home near in Ghaziabad near Delhi by Chhattisgarh Police on October 27. The CBI took over the case in November.
Verma’s lawyer Faisal Rizvi said the Special CBI court granted bail as the investigating agency did not file the chargesheet within the stipulated time of 60 days from the date of arrest.
The CBI had registered two cases relating to the possession and circulation of a “fake sex CD”, allegedly involving Minister Rajesh Munat, who had filed a complaint that the journalist was blackmailing him.
Munat had claimed that the video was fake and urged Chief Minister Raman Singh for a high-level enquiry.
Verma, a former BBC journalist and Editors Guild of India member, has denied the accusations levelled against him. He has claimed Chhattisgarh’s BJP government was framing him as he possessed a “sex CD”.
Police said the complainant had received a call on his phone and the unknown caller said he possessed a pornographic video of his “aaka” (master) and threatened to distribute CDs of the same in case his demand for ransom was not met.