Scribe linked to 'sex CD' case named Chhattisgarh CM advisor
Raipur, Dec 20: Senior journalist Vinod Verma, whose name had cropped in the "sex CD" episode last year, was Thursday appointed political advisor to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
The General Administration Department (GAD) appointed four advisors to the chief minister, an official statement said.
While Verma was appointed political advisor to Baghel, another journalist Ruchir Garg, who quit as an editor of a Hindi daily and joined the Congress ahead of the just concluded assembly polls, was named media advisor to the Congress chief minister.
Besides, Pradip Sharma was appointed planning, policy, agriculture and rural development advisor and Rajesh Tiwari parliamentary advisor to Baghel, the statement said.
Verma, a close confident of Baghel, was arrested from Ghaziabad in October 2017 by the Raipur police after a case of blackmailing and extortion was registered at the Pandri Police Station here on a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Bajaj.
Bajaj had alleged that he was "being harassed over phone by an unidentified caller", who told him he had a CD of his "aaka" (master).
The police had claimed to have recovered 500 CDs and some pen drives from Vermas residence during a raid.
After Verma's arrest, a "sex CD", purportedly featuring the then PWD Minister Rajesh Munat, had surfaced in Raipur.
Munat had termed the CD as "fake" and alleged it was made and circulated to tarnish his image. He had later filed a complaint against Baghel, the then state Congress president.
On recommendation of the then BJP government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation of two cases related to the circulation of the CD.
Verma was released on bail in December last year after the police failed to file a charge sheet against him in the mandatory 60 days.
In September this year, the CBI had filed the charge sheet in a special court here in the case, naming Baghel, Verma and three others as accused.
During the investigation, one more accused, Rinku Khanuja, had allegedly committed suicide in June this year.
All the accused were booked under IPC sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 67A of the IT Act (whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act), according to the charge sheet.
Verma and Baghel had denied any involvement in the preparation or circulation of the CD.
Baghel had initially refused to apply for bail and stayed in judicial custody for a couple of days.
The Congress leader, who had said he was falsely implicated in the case, later obtained bail from the court.
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Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls
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Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.
The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.
The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.
The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.
They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.
The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.
While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.
Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.
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