The Odisha High Court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) secretary general Jagneswar Babu, who was arrested by the State Vigilance police on May 1 this year.
The OJM leader was arrested on two counts by the Vigilance police for his alleged role in financial irregularities when he was the president of the Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) in 2010.
A Vacation Bench of Justice BK Nayak allowed babu’s application with one security and bail bond of `1 lakh.
Ever since he was arrested on May 1, 2013, Babu was in the Jharapada jail of Bhubaneswar. Even as his arrest was viewed as a political vendetta, many eyebrows were also raised when he was produced in a local court with handcuffs and was made to walk in the court premises in full public glare last month.
Making a reference to such vindictive politics, his counsel Satyabrata Pradhan argued in the court that the arrest was politically motivated and no criminal offence was made out against Babu.
The counsel said that as long as Jangneswar was in the (ruling) BJD, the State Government continued to advocate for him and had made it clear in the State Assembly that no wrongs were committed by the bank in granting loans from the bank. But the moment he quit the BJD and became a formidable opponent of the ruling party by joining the OJM, all hell broke loose and he was made a villain.