Raipur:
Soni Sori, a tribal teacher, today walked out of jail, two years after she was arrested for allegedly helping Maoists, a charge that was contested by activists.
Ms Sori was released along with her nephew, journalist Lingaram Kodopi, after the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted them bail on condition that they would not visit Chhattisgarh while their case was being probed. The Chhattisgarh government had objected to their release but the top court pointed out that others accused in the case had been given bail.
36-year-old Sori and her activist-nephew Kodopi,25, were arrested in 2011 on charges of acting as Maoist conduits who had allegedly received protection money for the rebels from Essar Group in Chhattisgarh.
According to the police, Kodopi and BK Lala, a building contractor with Essar Steel Ltd, were kidnapped from a weekly market at Palnar village in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh in September, 2011, with Rs. 15 lakh in cash, which was allegedly meant to be paid to the Maoists.
Essar Steel Ltd General Manager DVCS Verma, too, was arrested in connection with the case, but was later granted bail.