CUTTACK/BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay who was arrested by the CBI in connection with multi-thousand crore Rose Valley chit fund scam four months back.
A single judge bench of Justice JP Das directed the MP to deposit Rs 25 lakh in bank, submit his passport with the court and co-operate during the trial. He was also asked to deposit security of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the same amount in the court.
Sudip was arrested on January 3 for his alleged involvement in the Rs 17,000 crore Rose Valley Group scam which affected thousands of investors in Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura.
On April 27, the CBI had filed chargesheets against Sudip and Tapas Paul, another TMC MP, in connection with the scam. The probe agency named the two MPs in its supplementary chargesheet submitted before the Special CBI Court here.
The CBI had earlier submitted a chargesheet against chairman of the chit fund firm Gautam Kundu. While Kundu ran ponzi schemes under the garb of holiday packages, the TMC MPs had occupied positions as directors in the company during different periods. They publicly endorsed the firm and helped it collect more deposits.
The national probe agency in its chargesheet stated that Sudip had attended two business development meetings of Rose Valley in 2011 and 2012 while he was Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Both Sudip and Tapas are now in judicial custody and admitted to a private hospital in the City for more than three months after they complained of health complicacies.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had met them at the hospital during her three-day visit to Odisha last month.
In Odisha, the Rose Valley Group had mobilised over Rs 450 crore from investors.