New Delhi: The Telangana High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Tollywood choreographer Jani Master in a case of alleged sexual harassment of a young colleague. The prominent choreographer is released after spending more than a month in prison. The Ranga Reddy District Court had earlier granted interim bail to Jani Master on October 3 so that he could attend the 70th National Film Awards in Delhi on October 8. He was granted four-day bail from October 6.

Sheikh Jani Basha aka Jani Master was to receive the award for his choreography in the song ‘Megham Karukkatha’ from the film ‘Thiruchitrambalam’. Since the case was registered under POCSO, the National Film Awards Cell of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had canceled the award. The choreographer’s invitation to the ceremony was also withdrawn. Last month, a 21-year-old choreographer accused Jani Master of sexual harassment. According to police, the victim alleged that Jani Master sexually exploited her for a long time in 2020 as part of a project in Mumbai and also threatened her not to tell anyone. The complainant told the police that she came into contact with the choreographer in 2017 and became his assistant in 2019.

Jani Master was arrested on September 19th
Cyberabad’s Raidurgam police registered an FIR on September 15. Thereafter, the case was registered again at Narsingi police station. A case of rape, criminal intimidation and assault has been registered against the accused under Sections 376 (2) (n), 506 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. Regarding the case, the police said that after recording the victim’s statement, it turned out that she was a minor at the time of the crime. Therefore, Section 5(l) r/w 6 of the POCSO Act has also been added to the charges. The victim, now 21, alleged that the choreographer sexually abused her in several cities including Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The Cyberabad police had arrested Jani Master in Goa on September 19 and a court in Hyderabad had sent him to judicial custody. The police also interrogated Jani Master for four days.