Odisha HC rejects Mumbai model Preeti Bhatia’s bail

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Mar 16:

The High Court today rejected the bail petition of Mumbai based model Preeti Bhatia, who has been arrested by the CBI in connection with the mega Odisha chit fund scam.

Rejecting the argument of the counsel for Bhatia, who pleaded that there was no justification for keeping her in jail when other accused in the case like former AG Ashok Mohanty, Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy and Ranjan Dash had already been granted bail, the court said Bhatia’s case was different from the others.

Bhatia had already spent four months in jail and could lose her mental balance if her incarceration continued longer, her counsel argued.

Counsel for CBI, however, argued that granting Bhatia bail at this stage could affect the ongoing probe into the money trail in the case.

After completing hearing on her bail plea, the High Court had reserved its verdict on March 9.

The bail plea of Bhatia, arrested by the CBI for her dubious deals with the Artha Tatwa (AT) group, had earlier been rejected both by the CBI court in Bhubaneswar and the Khurda district and sessions court.