New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today granted bail to Soni Sori, the tribal rights activist who was accused by Chhattisgarh's Raman Singh government of helping the Naxals. The top court had granted her interim bail in November last year.
The court, while granting relief to the 36-year-old, allowed her to visit Chhattisgarh, but was asked to present herself in the trial court at Raipur every day. She was directed to execute a bond of Rs 50,000.
The Supreme Court had come to the rescue of Sori and her nephew Lingaram Kodopi, a journalist-cum-activist, in November last year. She had been languishing in Raipur jail since October, 2011 after being arrested by Chhattisgarh police in a case lodged against them for allegedly receiving money from Essar Group on behalf of the Naxals.
According to police, Kodopi and BK Lala, a building contractor associated with Essar Steel Ltd, were nabbed from a weekly market at Palnar village in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on September 9, 2011, with Rs. 15 lakh in cash, which was allegedly meant to be paid to the Naxals. Police had claimed that Sori was also present at the spot with her nephew, but had managed to escape.
Sori was arrested on October 4, 2011, in New Delhi. Essar Steel Ltd General Manager DVCS Verma, too, was nabbed in connection with the case.
A Dantewada district court had earlier granted bail to Verma and contractor Lala.