Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Jan 29:

The Odisha High Court today granted conditional bail to Odisha chit fund accused Ranjan Dash.

Ranjan DashThe court directed the petitioner, owner of Swastik India Multi-State Cooperative Society, to submit his passport before the investigating agency and furnish two bailers for his release.

Adjudicating the case, Justice Raghuvir Das, who had rejected Ranjan’s bail application last month, allowed it this time on a condition that he shall deposit a bank draft of Rs 10 lakh, furnish a property surety of another Rs 10 lakh and two more sureties having solvency worth Rs 50,000 each.

As the tentacles of chit fund scam are spread to other parts of the country, the court directed the plaintiff to surrender his passport with the CBI and shall not influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidences during the bail period..

It may be mentioned that the court of Special CJM (CBI) on January 20 had rejected a petition of Superintendent of Special Jail, Jharpada to shift Artha Tatwa Group (AT) scam accused Ranjan Dash to the Circle Jail at Choudwar for his treatment at Acharya Harihar Cancer Hospital as he had pleaded that he is afflicted with cancer.

Rabi Narayan Swain, Superintendent of Special Jail, Jharpada had appealed to the CBI Judge to shift Ranjan to the Circle Jail, Choudwar as they found it difficult to take Ranjan to Cuttack for treatment at frequent intervals.

Ranjan, a close confidant of arrested BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy, was arrested by CBI last year for his alleged links with chit fund company ArthaTatwa (AT) group and its CMD Pradeep Sethy, who is also in jail now.

Along with expelled BJD leader Tripathy and Sethy, Ranjan has been named as an accused in CBI's preliminary charge sheet, which was submitted in the designated CBI court in December last year.

Notably, Ranjan Dash is the first petitioner to get bail after the central investigating agency submitted its preliminary charge sheet in the multi crore rupees chit fund scam in Odisha.