MAPUSA
A court on Thursday released the accused Kukesh Rauta of Odisha on conditional bail after he was arrested on charges of extorting money from Congress MLA Adv. Carlos Ferreira for a morphed video.
Judge Vaishali Lotlikar granted the bail application of the accused based on a surety of Rs 20,000 and the surety of an identical amount.
As part of the conditions, the accused has been directed not to intimidate the complainant and witnesses, to cooperate with the court and the investigating officer in the investigation, not to leave the country without the permission of the court, and to submit identity cards and detailed information of two relatives.
Rauta has been accused of threatening the MLA that the morphed video would go viral on social media if the ransom was not paid.
Initially, the MLA had allegedly given Rs 55,000 as ransom to Rauta, but the accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore.
The accused had been arrested on December 2 and the police had seized his mobile phone.
