BEED: A sessions court in Beed district on Tuesday granted bail to Karuna Sharma, who claims to be the second wife of Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, in a case under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Sharma walked out of jail sixteen days after she was arrested for allegedly hurling casteist slurs at some persons.
She had announced a press conference at Parli in the district on September 5, stating that she was going to expose alleged misdeeds of Dhananjay Munde, an NCP leader.
When Sharma reached the venue of the press conference, she ran into a group of women protesters.
It was alleged that there was a heated argument during which she hurled casteist abuse.
She was arrested before the press conference could start and booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The hearing on her bail plea was deferred twice; first on September 14 when the investigating officer did not produce some documents and the complainant was not present, and then again on September 18.
On Tuesday, the Ambajogai tehsil sessions court granted bail to Sharma after hearing the plea the day before.
She will have to produce a surety of Rs 25,000, said public prosecutor Ashok Kulkarni.
The court also barred her from visiting Ambajogai and Parli tehsils except for trial, he added.
A smiling Sharma refused to speak to reporters as she emerged out of Beed district jail and left for Mumbai.