Odisha High Court Grants Bail to Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi

Bureau,Odishabarta

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted conditional bail to Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi, who has been expelled from the ruling BJD. Panigrahi was removed from the BJD following his arrest on December 3,2020 for allegedly duping several job aspirants and collecting nearly Rs 50 lakh from them on the promise of giving them employment in a reputed company.

Panigrahi had allegedly hoodwinked local unemployed youths in cahoots with Akash Pathak, who posed himself to be the Managing Director (I/C) of the company.

Justice S K Sahoo granted the bail to Panigrahi after he submitted an affidavit stating that he would return the entire money collected from the job aspirants. The High Court directed him to immediately deposit Rs 24 lakh as cash security and pay Rs 5 lakh on the last day of every month from March to July. The bail petition was allowed after the MLA furnished a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

Advocate General,Odisha Ashok Parija had earlier informed the High Court that Panigrahi had duped the job aspirants of Rs 47.45 lakh and the figure is likely to increase as investigation into the case is on.

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