CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday granted bail to suspended IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash in a fraud case registered at Kharavela Nagar police station in Bhubaneswar. The single judge bench of Justice SK Sahoo granted bail to the father-son duo on a surety of ` two lakh in the case registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Sky King, a Bhubaneswar-based travel agency. The complaint had alleged non-payment of dues of `65 lakh.
Arguing the case, senior advocate Pitambar Acharya contended that the police cannot act as a recovery agent in a complaint filed for recovery of outstanding dues. The police had abused the process of law by acting like a recovery agent in a purely commercial transaction, Acharya argued citing a recent Supreme Court judgment.
The bail clears the way for release of Abhay who was earlier granted bail by the Special Vigilance Court in the alleged disproportionate assets case for which he was arrested on November 27 last year. Though Akash was granted bail in the disproportionate assets case, he is yet to get bail in a job scam case in which he had been implicated.