The Supreme Court, for the sixth time, rejected the bail petition of chairman of Hi-Tech Group Tirupati Panigrahi on Monday and asked him to deposit Rs 10 crore within a week and the remaining Rs 50 crore within three weeks. The court fixed the next date of hearing on February 7.
The court, while rejecting Panigrahi’s bail plea on October 21 last, had asked him to return the land to the people from whom the company took advance money, before applying for bail.
It may be noted that Panigrahi along with his two relatives were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the State Crime Branch on December 25, 2012 for allegedly reneging on the promise of providing residential plots to people after taking money from them in 2009. The probe by the EOW had revealed that the Hi-Tech Group owed more than Rs 315.96 crore to the investors.
The group received money from 17,181 investors with a promise of providing them with residential plots of which about 16,901 investors are to get the land till date. The EOW, so far, has registered at least five cases against the Hi-Tech Group.