Odisha gangster Raja Acharya gets bail, likely to walk out of jail

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court today granted conditional bail to gangster Raja Acharya in a 2010 case pertaining to the abduction of an employee of Jyoti Motors and extortion of money from him.

Acharya, lodged in Jharpada Special Jail in Bhubaneswar, is likely to walk out of the jail as he has already been granted bail in other cases against him.

The Bhubaneswar Additional District Judge Court had in March, last year rejected Acharya’s bail plea in the kidnapping and extortion case, following which he moved the High Court seeking bail.

Notably, Acharya was convicted in the murder of judo coach Biranchi Das and serving life term in the Jharpada jail since 2008. He was arrested from Goa on May 28, 2008. The Bhubaneswar District and Sessions Court had convicted him in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

However, Raja had petitioned the High Court challenging the lower court’s verdict. Since the matter did not come up for hearing in the High Court, Raja had moved the Supreme Court which granted him bail in the murder case on March 10, 2017.