Cuttack:
The Orissa High Court has granted conditional bail to a journalist of Gajapati district who was arrested on September 20 on the charge of having links with Maoists.
A single judge Bench of Justice C R Dash granted bail to Laxman Choudhury on Tuesday with two sureties of Rs 10,000 each.
Choudhury was also asked to cooperate with the investigating police officer and report at the local police station every week.
The Mohana-based newsperson, working for a vernacular daily, was picked up by the local police on September 20 following the arrest of a bus conductor.
The conductor was arrested on a police tip-off that he was working as a conduit for the Maoists and a packet, on which the address of Choudhury was scribbled, was found in his possession.
Police found literatures eulogising Maoist activities inside the packet and Choudhury was arrested.
Several journalists protested the police action as an attempt to gag the press.