The Khordha District and Sessions Judge Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of Manoj Dash, proprietor of a local television channel, who has been arrested by the CBI for his alleged complicity in the Artha Tatwa Group chit fund fraud.
The court had reserved its verdict on Das’ plea on Wednesday. Dash and another media owner Madhu Mohanty were arrested by the CBI on September 14.
On September 16, the Special Chief Judicial Court (CBI) had sent Dash on a 14-day judicial custody after rejecting his bail application. Dash had allegedly taken Rs 90 lakh from AT Group CMD Pradeep Sethy for leasing out bandwidth for operating six TV channels in the teleports owned by him. Sethy had claimed during interrogation by the CBI that Dash had taken the money as a loan from him and had not returned the amount.