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Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Thursday allowed Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi to meet his lawyer in jail.
Panigrahi has been lodged in a special cell at the Jharpada Jail following his arrest by the State Crime Branch on charges of forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy, on December 3.
The High Court's interim order came in response to a writ petition filed by Panigrahi on December 14, citing violations of prison rules under the Odisha Prison Rules 2020 which mandates under-trial prisoners to meet his/her lawyers and family members for legal purposes.
The jail authorities were allegedly denying Panigrahi permission to access his lawyer citing Covid-19 safety guidelines, said reports.
"A prisoner meeting his/her lawyer is the Constitutional and Fundamental right of an under trial prisoner. Besides, the Odisha Prison Rules 2020 also guarantees this right to the prisoners," said senior advocate Pitambar Acharya.
On December 11, the Gopalpur MLA had moved the Orissa High Court seeking bail after the Special Vigilance Court, Bhubaneswar and Additional District and Sessions Court (III), Bhubaneswar rejected his bail petitions.
Panigrahi is under Crime Branch scanner for his alleged links with IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak who was arrested in a disproportionate assets case and his son Akash, an accused in a couple of fraud cases, including a massive job scam.
Panigrahi, who had been expelled from the BJD for ‘anti-people’ activities, has been charged with helping his would-be- son-in-law Akash Pathak, who allegedly collected huge amount of money from people in Ganjam district on false promise of giving them job in Tata Motors.
Akash and his father Abhay Kant Pathak, a senior IFS officer were arrested by vigilance earlier for amassing properties worth crores which was disproportionate to their known sources of income. Akash was arrested ahead of his scheduled marriage with Panigrahi’s daughter on December 11.
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