BHUBANESWAR: The Special Judge (CBI) on Thursday rejected the bail petition of Banki legislator and former chief whip of BJD Pravat Tripathy, who was produced before the court after the end of his 14-day remand.
Tripathy is accused of criminal nexus with Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chief Pradeep Sethy. The court also rejected the bail pleas of city-based businessmen Vineet Lalani and Dilip Kumar Mohanty.
The CBI court turned down the Banki MLA’s bail plea on the grounds that his co-accused have not been granted bail and hence different parameters cannot be used to judge the petition of Tripathy and the other two.
The three were sent to judicial custody following the rejection of the bail petitions.
Opposing the bail plea of Tripathy, CBI counsel Kali Prasad Mishra said Assistant Registrar of Co-operative Societies Gayatri Patnaik had deposed before the CBI and stated that the MLA had pressurised her on multiple occasions to expedite registration of Artha Tatwa (AT) Multipurpose Cooperative Society, the cooperative firm floated by Pradeep Sethy.
Within 15 days of registration of the firm, Sethy was nominated for the award of “Best Youth Cooperator” in 2010. During that period, the Banki MLA was president of Odisha State Cooperative Union (OSCU).
The bail petitions of Mayurbhanj MP Ramachandra Hansdah and two former MLAs, Subarna Naik and Hitesh Bagarti, were also filed on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the bail petitions of Mumbai- based model Preeti Bhatia and Md Hanif were rejected by the Khurda District and Sessions Court. Preeti was sent to judicial custody on October 24.
Besides, 21 other co-accused in the case were produced in the court as per schedule, after their 13-day judicial custody period ended. They were sent back to the jail.