Berhampur: In a huge sigh of relief for Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahy, a court today acquitted the parliamentarian in three job fraud cases.

The Court of JMFC (Rural), Berhampur acquitted Panigrahy in the three cases while a special court for MPs and MLAs had yesterday acquitted him in two job fraud cases.

He was accused of defrauding job seekers on false promise of providing them employment in Tata Motors.

“He was acquitted in two cases yesterday, and today the court cleared him of all charges in three more cases. The complainants appeared before the court and stated that they did not wish to proceed with the cases. They said that an Inspector General (IG) and other police officers had coerced them into filing false complaints against Panigrahy. Due to lack of evidence, the court acquitted Panigrahy of all charges. There are no pending cases against him now," said Panigrahy’s lawyer Deepak Patnaik.

Notably, as many as five cases of job fraud were registered against the Berhampur MP at Golanthara and Baidyanathpur police stations. The complainants had initially alleged that Panigrahy defrauded them by promising jobs in the company.

The Odisha Crime Branch had on December 3, 2020 arrested Panigrahy. He was a BJD MLA at that time. The Orissa High Court later granted him bail on June 11, 2021.