Hi-Tech Group chairman Tirupati Panigrahi, who was arrested by the EOW of the Crime Branch on charges of land fraud in 2012, on Tuesday deposited Rs 3.5 crore in the Supreme Court’s treasury.
Panigrahi had also deposited Rs 18 crore in July this year. So far, he has deposited Rs 41.5 crore.
On February 21, 2014, the apex court granted him conditional bail and asked him to deposit Rs 63.5 crore, to be refunded to duped land buyers.
On December 25, 2012, the EOW had arrested Panigrahi and Hi-Tech Group directors Tirupati Choudhury and Madhusudan Panigrahi for allegedly cheating land buyers of over Rs 315 crore.
Earlier Panigrahi was asked to deposit the entire fund money in three weeks from the date of getting bail. This January, the EOW moved the apex court seeking rejection of his conditional bail as he failed to deposit the entire money.
CB sources said Panigrahi’s company did not have adequate land bank but collected around Rs 315 crore from hundreds of people between 2009 and 2012 with a promise of giving them plots.
The EOW also found that the accused diverted the public money to his other businesses illegally.