Pay Rs 14 cr in 4 weeks or risk rejection of bail, SC tells Hi-Tech

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Friday asked builder and chairman of the Hi-Tech Group Tirupati Panigrahi to deposit the pending Rs 14 crores out of the Rs 63.5 crores he had been asked to pay earlier to avail bail within four weeks or risk rejection of bail.

Panigrahi has so far deposited Rs 50.5 crore in phases with the Supreme Court treasury.

On December 25, 2012, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch had arrested Panigrahi and Hi-Tech Group directors Tirupati Choudhury and Madhusudan Panigrahi for allegedly cheating customers for over Rs 315 crores.

On February 21, 2014, the apex court had granted conditional bail to Panigrahi and asked him to deposit Rs 63.5 crore, to be refunded to duped land buyers.

Earlier Panigrahi was asked to deposit the entire fund money in three weeks from the date of getting bail. This January, the EOW moved the apex court, seeking rejection of his conditional bail as he had failed to deposit the entire money.

CB source said Panigrahi’s company did not have adequate land bank, but collected around Rs 315 crore from hundreds of people between 2009 and 2012 with the false promise of giving them plots. EOW also found the accused diverted the public money to his other businesses illegally.