The Orissa High Court on Monday granted a three-month interim conditional bail from October 1, 2020 to January 2, 2021 to Deepak Gupta, the prime accused in the Uliburu mining scam.
While granting the bail, the court asked Gupta him to deposit Rs 1 crore in the lower court and two surety bonds of Rs 2 crore each.
He was also directed to deposit his passport in the lower court. In case he does not have a passport, he would submit an affidavit in this regard in the lower court.
Besides, Gupta was asked to provide his address, where he would stay after release on bail, phone number and email details to the Vigilance authorities. The court also set a condition for him not to influence the witnesses.
Earlier, Gupta’s bail plea had been rejected by the High Court and the Supreme Court on several occasions. He later moved the Keonjhar Special Vigilance Court seeking bail but his plea was turned down.
Following this, he again knocked at the doors of the High Court on August 7, 2019 seeking regular bail. But the court rejected the regular bail plea and directed the lower court to expedite the hearing of the case.
In his bail plea, Gupta stated that there was hardly any progress in hearing of the case in the lower court, thereby not adhering to the directive of the High Court.