Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court (SC) will hear the plea demanding rejection of the bail granted to chit fund scam accused and senior BJD MLA Prabhat Tripathi on March 4.
In December 2015, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday served a 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 him by Orissa High Court in March this year in connection with Artha Tatwa chit fund scam.
Notably, Tripathy, who was in jail since October 2014 over his involvement in the Artha Tatwa chit fund scam, was granted bail by the High Court on March 3, 2015. Tripathy was arrested by the CBI on charges of hatching a criminal conspiracy with the chit fund group.
In its charge sheet, the CBI had alleged that the BJD MLA had taken Rs 42 lakh from Artha Tatwa chief Pradeep Sethy in return for his patronage for the company. Soon after his arrest, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had suspended Tripathy from the party.
The four-time MLA’s name had cropped up in the chit fund scam in 2014 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.