Chhattisgarh police arrested senior journalist Vinod Verma in Ghaziabad today in connection with an extortion case.

Verma, a member of the Editors' Guild of India, has worked for the BBC and Amar Ujala.

On his way to court, Verma said he had a CD containing obscene visuals of Chhattisgarh minister Rajesh Munat

Munat, on his part, said the CD was fake, and that it was a conspiracy by the Congress. He also demanded a probe into the incident.

Sex CD is fake,appeal to the CM to get this investigated from any agency. I condemn this: Rajesh Munat,Chhattisgarh Minister #VinodVerma pic.twitter.com/1B6x4qhUMl - ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2017

Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said Verma's arrest showed how the press was being gagged by the government.

Verma, he said, was investigating a sex scandal involving the minister, and that he was being framed for this. The Congress leader demanded Verma's immediate release, and legal action against Munat.

Police say that on October 26, Raipur resident Prakash Bajaj filed a complaint, saying he was being threatened over the phone. The caller said that he possessed a pornographic CD of Bajaj's relative and threatened to make it viral if he didn't pay a ransom.

A video operator who was tracked down revealed that Verma had placed an order to make 1,000 copies of a CD.

After arresting Verma, police recovered some 500 CDs from his residence.

Meanwhile, Raipur SP Rajiv Shukla said it hasn't yet been confirmed that Verma made the threat calls to Bajaj. The journalist was presented before a Delhi court for a transit remand, but it was denied.

Verma told reporters he was being framed because he had a CD that could implicate Munat.

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