Hyderabad, Jan 11th: A city court Monday granted bail to two editors of Telugu television channel TV 5 arrested for airing an unsubstantiated story about an alleged conspiracy behind the death of then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a chopper crash. The story based on a report by a Russian website had led to attacks on Reliance outlets across Andhra Pradesh Thursday night as the report alleged that the company had a role in the helicopter crash that killed YSR on Sep 2 last year. 

The court granted bail to TV 5 executive editor Brahmananda Reddy and input Editor Venkat Krishna on the condition that they would not telecast any story about the crash till the completion of ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. The two editors, arrested Jan 8 and sent to judicial custody till Jan 22, were later released from Chanchalguda jail. 

Cases under sections 153/A (Promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (2) (making statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were registered against the channel and the two editors. Police also booked similar cases against two more vernacular channels including Sakshi owned by YSR's son and MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for airing the "baseless" story. Police have arrested nearly 200 people, a majority of them leaders and activists of ruling Congress party, for involvement in the attacks.