CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has rejected the bail plea of Subash Mohapatra, who was arrested in December 2025 for impersonating as an advocate and conducting an election petition.
Rejecting the petition, the single judge bench of Justice Gourishankar Satapathy observed that the allegations against Mohapatra were serious in nature and amounted to “a crime against society”.
According to the prosecution, the High Court had directed registration of an FIR against Mohapatra in an order dated September 12, 2025. The allegation was that despite having no licence issued by any Bar Council, Mohapatra allegedly posed himself as a lawyer and conducted an election petition before the court by impersonating as an advocate.
The court recorded that the enrolment number furnished by Mohapatra in the vakalatnama was later found to belong to one Gitanjali Sharma. “The allegation against the petitioner is that the petitioner having no licence issued from any Bar Council to practice in any court has posed himself as a lawyer and conducted an election petition before this court by impersonating himself as an advocate,” the order stated.
The bench further observed that despite being given opportunities to produce a valid enrolment number and licence to practice law, Mohapatra failed to do so. Consequently, the co-ordinate bench had ordered registration of the FIR.
During the hearing, the counsel for Mohapatra argued that since the charge sheet had already been filed and the petitioner had spent more than five-and-half months in confinement, his detention should not be prolonged further.
Appearing for the state, the specially-engaged counsel for the case submitted that Mohapatra had “nine criminal antecedents” and, along with his associates, was allegedly instrumental in registering around 80 cases against different persons “for adopting arm twisting method to obtain certain privileges”.
The court also took note of the petitioner’s alleged failure to disclose his criminal antecedents in the bail application, terming it “material suppression”. “In the aforesaid facts and circumstances, this court is not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner,” Justice Satapathy said while rejecting the bail plea.