Bhubaneswar: A court in Odisha Friday granted interim bail to Khurda MLA-elect Prashant Jagdev who has been lodged in a jail after being arrested on the charge of damaging an EVM during voting May 25.
Jagdev has been granted bail for three days — June 9, 10, 11 — and asked to surrender before the court June 12.
“We had sought bail for a month for his swearing-in June 10, besides death of his nephew. But the Khurda district court granted him bail for only three days,” Jagdev’s lawyer Prabhat Dash told reporters.
Dash said his client would move Orissa High Court for extension of his bail period and for grant of regular bail.
Jagdev was arrested May 26 for allegedly damaging an electronic voting machine (EVM) and manhandling two polling personnel at a booth in Kaunripatana village in Begunia Assembly constituency in Khurda district while polling was underway during the third phase of polls May 25.
Jagdev, who contested from Khurda, is a registered voter of Begunia seat.
He has been booked under several sections of the Representation of People’s Act, besides Sections 294 (use of abusive, humiliating or defamative words), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.
PTI