Cuttack: Five more persons, arrested by the CBI for their alleged involvement in Artha Tatwa (AT) chit fund scam and link with AT group chief Pradeep Sethy, were Friday granted conditional bail by the Orissa High Court. Three others, including Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy, were granted bail earlier.
A local television channel owner Manoj Das, Oriya newspaper owner Bikash Swain, builder Vineet Lalani and AT Group executives Sambit Khuntia and Manoj Patnaik were granted conditional bail by Justice B K Nayak.
All five were lodged in jails for over two years. While Patnaik was released on bail for a brief period in 2015, he was re-arrested in a subsequent case in this connection.
The HC had previously granted bail in this connection to BJD legislator Tripathy, builder Sagar Kumar Ray and Crime Branch DSP Pramod Panda.
Following the HC’s intervention, the Khurda district and sessions court had granted bail to former Advocate General Asok Mohanty and additional government advocate Debashis Panda.
Press Trust of India
