GUWAHATI: Arrested former Tripura Minister and CPI-M leader Badal Choudhury heaved a sigh of relief as he was granted bail by the Tripura High Court on Saturday in a Rs 640 crore scam.
The police had arrested him in October from a private hospital in the state capital Agartala in connection with the scam that occurred in the state’s Public Works Department (PWD).
The 68-year-old was booked after an FIR was lodged with the West Agartala Police Station in connection with the scam. He remained untraceable for six days until the police learnt he was admitted in the intensive care unit of the private hospital.
Choudhury had moved the high court as several of his bail petitions, filed in the lower courts, were rejected.
A four-time former Minister, he is the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. During his detention, he had to be hospitalised multiple times as his health condition deteriorated.
He denied his role in the scam and described his arrest as “political vendetta”.
Besides him, a former PWD chief engineer, a former principal secretary and some others are the other alleged accused in the scam.