The Odisha High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to arrested chit fund scam accused Ranjan Das on health grounds as he wishes to go outside the State for oral cancer treatment.
Justice Raghuvir Das, who had rejected Ranjan’s bail application last month, allowed it this time on a condition that he shall deposit a bank draft of Rs10 lakh, furnish a property surety of another Rs10 lakh and two more sureties having solvency worth Rs50, 000 each. Besides, he was asked by the court to deposit his passport with the CBI and not to influence witnesses or tamper with the evidences during the bail period.
A close confidant of arrested MlA Pravat Tripathy, Ranjan was arrested by the CBI in September last year for his alleged links with chit fund company Artha Tatwa (AT) Group and its CMD Pradeep Sethy, who is now in the CBI custody.
Along with expelled BJD leader Tripathy and Sethy, Ranjan has also been named as an accused in the preliminary charge-sheet of the CBI, which was submitted in the designated court of CBI in Bhubaneswar last month.
On the day, the Khordha District and Session Judge Court in Bhubaneswar rejected the bail plea of city-based builder Vineet lalani and Micro Finance limited director Ashok Patnaik in connection with the chit fund scam.
lalani, along with his partner Sagar Ray of Orison Properties limited, is said to have taken huge amounts of money from the AT Group for their real estate and construction business, sources said.