Realtor takes 2 weeks time from SC to pay up

Bhubaneswar/ New Delhi: Tainted realtor and chairman of Hi-Tech group Tirupati Panigrahi has taken two weeks time from the Supreme Court to refund the pending amount in connection with the 315-crore land fraud. The apex court while hearing the case had asked Panigrahi to refund Rs 63.55 crore to investors.

According to sources, Panigrahi has already refunded Rs 20 crore and has taken two weeks time to refund another Rs 43 crore.

In December 2014, the Supreme Court has turned down the request of Panigrahi to extend his bail period after he failed to deposit Rs 53 crore in time which he was asked by the court to pay up.
The Supreme Court in May 2014 ordered Hi-Tech Group chairman Tirupati Panigrahi to return depositors’ money within 3-4 months.

Conducting a hearing in the land fraud case, the apex court turned down the plea of Panigrahi, who had sought at least six months to start the process to refund the amount to investors.

Earlier in February 2014, the Supreme Court had granted conditional bail to the controversial realtor, who has been behind bars for the past 13 months for his alleged involvement in land scams.

The apex court had also granted interim relief to directors of the group Tirupati Choudhury and Madhusudan Panigrahi, who along with Panigrahi were arrested on December 25, 2012 by the Crime Branch (CB) on charges of cheating hundreds of land buyers of nearly Rs 315 crore by floating dubious schemes in the city and on its outskirts.

The SC considered Panigrahi’s bail plea only after he deposited Rs 10 crore with the court registry and promised to deposit another Rs 53.5 crore within three months to enable the court to disburse the amount among duped investors.

While probing the case, the Crime Branch officials had reiterated that 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.