TV
Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday served notice to suspended BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy on a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the bail granted to the legislator by Orissa High Court in March this year in connection with Artha Tatwa chit fund scam.
Court sources said the apex court accepted the SLP filed by the central investigating agency and sent a notice to the MLA.
However when asked about the notice, the Banki MLA said he has not received any such notice.
Tripathy, who was in jail since October last year over his involvement in the Artha Tatwa chit fund scam, was granted bail by the High Court on March 3. Tripathy was arrested on October 31 last year by the CBI on charges of hatching a criminal conspiracy with the chit fund group.
In its chargesheet, the CBI had alleged that the BJD MLA had taken Rs 42 lakh from Artha Tatwa chief Pradeep Sethy in return for the patronage. Soon after his arrest, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had suspended Tripathy from the party.
Tripathy during his tenure as president of Orissa State Cooperative Union (OSCU), a government-sponsored apex cooperative society, had recommended Sethy’s name for the award of “Best Youth Cooperative Person” in 2010. Sethy got the award within a fortnight of he starting the Artha Tatwa Multipurpose Cooperative Society. The award helped Sethy collect money from unsuspecting investors.
The four-time MLA’s name in the chit fund scam cropped up last year when the ponzi scam surfaced and an audio tape involving Tripathy went viral.
What acted as prima facie evidence against Tripathy was the forensic test of his voice which matched with the one in the tape in which he was in a conversation with AT group chief Pradeep Sethi seeking funds for the Banki Mahotsav.
