A particular Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court docket on Saturday put aside a Justice of the Peace’s order discharging former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in a case associated to the alleged circulation of a sleazy video purportedly involving former state minister Rajesh Munat in 2017.
Baghel should face trial within the case except he secures reduction from the next court docket. The CBI had named Baghel as one of many accused in its cost sheet within the case.
Counsel for Baghel, Faizal Rizvi, stated the classes court docket of the CBI has put aside the decrease court docket’s judgment on Saturday and {that a} trial will now be carried out in opposition to Baghel underneath Sections 469 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and Part 67(2) of the Info Know-how Act.
In the identical proceedings, the particular court docket dismissed appeals of different accused, Kailash Murarka, journalist Vinod Verma, and Vijay Bhatia, difficult the trial court docket’s choice to border costs in opposition to them.
The case stems from two circumstances that the Chhattisgarh Police registered in 2017 based mostly on complaints of Munat and Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) chief Prakash Bajaj. The circumstances had been later transferred to the CBI.
In his criticism, Bajaj stated he acquired a telephone name from an unidentified individual claiming to own a pornographic video of his “aaka (grasp)”. He added that the individual demanded ransom and threatened to make the video public if the demand was not met. The primary case was filed on Bajaj’s criticism.
The second case was registered, naming Baghel, then the Chhattisgarh Congress chief, and Vinod Verma, over the circulation of an allegedly faux pornographic video of Munat on social media platforms to malign his picture and achieve political benefit. Baghel and Verma denied the allegations.
Verma was arrested in October 2017 on blackmail and extortion costs. He claimed he was being framed, alleging that the state authorities was focusing on him over a purported “intercourse CD” of Munat. Munat has maintained that the video was faux and a part of a conspiracy to defame him.
