CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday granted interim bail for a period of one month to the Rs 1,500 crore Uliburu mining scam key accused Deepak Gupta on the condition of furnishing bail bond of Rs 2 crore and cash security of Rs 1 crore.
The scam involved illegal mining of iron ore detected in and around Uliburu reserve forest in Keonjhar’s Joda area. Gupta, who has been in judicial custody since his arrest on September 5, 2013, has approached for bail after his earlier five unsuccessful attempts before the High Court and twice before the Supreme Court. After filing of the bail petition on February 4, an interim bail application was filed on June 2.
The interim bail was sought on the ground that the main bail application would take a little more time and in the present scenario arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, it would be difficult to conduct such hearing through video conferencing.