The Orissa High Court on Monday granted conditional bail to erstwhile newspaper owner Madhu Mohanty, who was arrested by the CBI in September 2015 for his alleged link with multi-crore chit fund scam of the Artha Tatwa (AT).
Granting the bail, Justice SK Mishra imposed tough conditions on Mohanty, whose bail applications had earlier been turned down twice by the court. A former owner of a vernacular daily, whose publication has now been suspended, Mohanty is facing charges under Sections 120-B, 406, 409, 411, 420, 468 and 471 of IPC and 4, 5 and 6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978.
Mohanty’s bail application was allowed when his counsel informed the court that the key accused in the case Pradeep Sethy and other directors of the AT Group have already pleaded guilty in the trial CBI court and they have been convicted and sentenced.
Mohanty has been asked to fix deposit a sum of `1.9 crore in any bank, receipts of which are to be submitted in the trial court and to produce two sureties with bail bond of `25 lakh each to go on bail. The court, however, asked him to deposit the amount in four instalments, the first of which (`50 lakh) is to be deposited on April 30 and the subsequent instalments after every two months.
Among other conditions, Mohanty was asked to submit his passport with the investigating officer (IO) and shall present himself before the IO whenever required. He shall not influence the witnesses during the bail period and not go outside the State without prior intimation to the IO, the HC order said.