Bilaspur (PTI): A special court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Saturday granted bail to three persons, including two nuns from Kerala, arrested on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, lawyers said.

Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi had reserved the order on their bail pleas after a hearing on Friday.

The court has granted conditional bail to the trio, defence lawyer Amrito Das said.

Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested at the Durg railway station on July 25, following a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them, a railway police official had said.

Following the bail hearing on Friday, Das had said that the prosecution had not asked for the trio's custody for interrogation, and the alleged victims had been sent back to their homes.

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Vijayanagara: One man was killed and 12 others were injured after a truck hit vehicle they were traveling in on the National Highway 50 stretch on the outskirts of Koodligi in the district.

The accident victim, Madhu (27), is learned to have been an employee of Reliance Digital from Andhra Pradesh.

The vehicle was reportedly traveling from Bengaluru to Koodligi and the passengers are learned to have been seriously injured following the collision with the truck, which was found to have a Maharashtra registration.

Koodligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mallesh Dodmani and Circle Inspector Prahlad Channagiri arrived at the accident spot on being informed of the accident.

The police officers and locals rescued the injured passengers and got them shifted to the Koodligi Government Hospital. Some of the passengers were reportedly taken to the Ballari Trauma Care Centre for further treatment.

A case has been registered at the Koodligi Police Station and the officers are investigating the incident.