Chairman and managing director of the Hi-tech group Tirupati Panigrahi was finally granted bail, though conditional, by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The company’s two other directors Tirupati Choudhury and Madhusudan Panigrahi were also granted conditional bail.
A Bench of the Supreme Court, hearing Tirupati Panigrahi’s bail plea, agreed to grant him bail after he deposited Rs10 crore out of the Rs63.5 crore he was asked by the court to deposit. He has to deposit the remaining amount within three months, the court order said. Panigrahi was granted bail against a surety bond of Rs5 lakh. He has also been asked to surrender his passport before he is released from jail.
Notably, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the State Crime Branch had arrested the Hi-Tech CMD and the other two directors on December 25, 2012 for allegedly cheating land buyers of crores of rupees. The agency had received around 1,400 complaints from the investors against Panigrahi.