Raipur, Aug 25 - A Chhattisgarh court Tuesday granted bail to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning V. Narayanasamy for allegedly accusing a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister in the state of corruption.

Narayanasamy appeared personally here before First Class Judicial Magistrate Shradha Shukla, who granted him regular bail on a personal bond of Rs. 5,000 in a defamation case under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), slapped by former BJP minister Ajay Chandrakar in March this year.

Former panchayat and rural development minister Chandrakar said Narayansamy had accused him in a press conference August 2008 of making Rs.1,000 crore.

He said the allegation had 'severely damaged' his image as a politician and 'also caused huge mental tension which was one of the reasons I lost the assembly polls in November last year'.

The next hearing of the case will be held Sept 15.