'Sex CD' case: Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel refused legal aide, sent to jail

Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel was sent to 14 days judicial remand in connection with the case “sex CD” case on Monday after he declined to apply for bail following the filing of a charge-sheet. The Congress chief is accused of circulating the sex CD, purportedly featuring a state BJP minister.

Baghel declined to engage a lawyer or move a bail application in the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. The state Congress chief said that he was being falsely implicated in the case and announced to sit on a ‘satyagrah’ (agitation) against the ruling BJP government in the jail.

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Earlier in the day, the CBI had filed a chargesheet in the special court against Baghel, journalist Vinod Verma, businessman Vijay Bhatia and two other accused. Another accused, Rinku Khanuja, had allegedly committed suicide in June 2018.

All the accused have been 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).

While Verma and Bhatia were granted bail after they applied for it, Baghel declined to take legal aid or file a bail plea, he said. He was remanded in judicial custody till October 8 by the court.

Speaking to reporters, Bhaghel said that he had shown black flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to the state and that was why the chargesheet was submitted in a hurry by the investigative agency under pressure from the BJP government.

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In October last year, a controversy had erupted in the state politics after a “porn video”, allegedly featuring Public Works Department Minister Rajesh Munat, surfaced following the arrest of Verma from his residence in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) by the Raipur police.

(With inputs from PTI)