The Odisha High Court on Monday rejected the bail application of Mumbai-based Hindi TV serial maker Preeti Bhatia, who has been cooling her heels in jail here ever since she was arrested by the CBI on October 10 last. A former model, Preeti is facing charges of criminal conspiracy and parking ill-gotten money collected by chit fund company Artha Tatwa (AT) Group.
Justice SK Sahoo was not inclined to release the petitioner on bail after rejecting all the contentions of her counsel, including the pleas that she is a woman and some other co-accused in the case have been released on bail.
“Merely because the petitioner is a woman and merely because some of the co-accused persons have been released on bail, in the larger interests of public and (the) State, I am not inclined to release the petitioner on bail at this stage,” Justice Sahoo said in his order.
It may be mentioned that former State Advocate General Asok Mohanty, arrested in the same case by the CBI, was granted bail by a Sessions Court in Bhubaneswar. Similarly, BJD MlA Pravat Kumar Tripathy and his associate Ranjan Kumar Das arrested for the same offence have been granted bail by the High Court.
Justice Sahoo, however, observed that the reasons for which bails were granted to other co-accused by different courts “cannot be taken as parity for considering the bail of Preeti” and the cases of Mohanty, Tripathy and Das stand on different footings.
An amount of Rs 1.17 crore was transferred to the account of Preeti from several accounts of companies floated by AT Group CMD Pradeep Kumar Sethy and the CBI has clearly established that Preeti has transferred substantial amounts it to the accounts of her sister and brother-in-law.
Considering the materials available on record, the role played by the petitioner and the impact of such economic offences on society, particularly on common people, who are waiting to get back their invested money in chit fund companies, the HC rejected the bail of the model-turned-TV serial producer.