Journalist accused of extortion in Chhattisgarh sex tape case gets bail

The bail was given as the prosecution failed to file charges against Verma within the stipulated time of 60 days from the date of arrest

A court in Raipur on Thursday gave bail to senior journalist Vinod Verma, arrested on charges of extortion after allegedly possessing and circulating a sleaze CD purportedly featuring a Chhattisgarh Minister.

The bail was given as the prosecution failed to file charges 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 charges within the stipulated time of 60 days from the date of arrest.

The CBI has 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 inquiry.

Verma, a former BBC journalist and Editors Guild of India member, has denied the accusations levelled against him. He has claimed Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was framing him as he possessed a "sex CD".

The police said the complainant had received a call on his phone and the unknown caller said that he possessed a pornographic video of his "aaqa" (master) and threatened to distribute CDs of the same in case his demand for ransom was not met.

The second case was registered under the IT Act in another police station in Chhattisgarh on October 27 against two accused on the charge that they had circulated the complainant's fake pornographic video on various social media platforms and distributed its CD to malign his name to obtain political mileage.