Judicial Magistrate K Mumtaz granted the bail after asking her to furnish a surety bond, sources said. Nirmala's counsel Pasumpon Pandian said she would most likely be released from the Madurai central prison on Wednesday. 

Addressing newspersons, Pandian said the charges levelled against Nirmala were utterly false, adding that she was made a scapegoat in the case. 

"Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who was very much concerned about the scandal, had appointed a one-man commission to probe into it. However, the same Governor remains silent on serious recent issues such as the Pollachi rape case," he said, claiming that the four accused in the Pollachi case were immediately detained under the Goondas Act only to protect the real culprits.

Nirmala was arrested by the Aruppukottai Town police on April 16 last year. The CB-CID also arrested two others, Murugan, Assistant Professor of MKU and Karuppasamy, a research scholar, as co-accused in the case. The case was later transferred to the Srivilliputhur Fast Track Mahila Court after the CB-CIB filed the chargesheet.