Orissa HC grants bail to Mohammed Moquim in ORHDC case

Cuttack: Orissa High Court today granted bail to Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim in connection with a corruption case in Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC).

The court asked Barabati-Cuttack legislator to furnish bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties to get the interim bail.

Besides, the High Court accepted the petition challenging verdict of the special vigilance court and sought a reply from the lower court in this matter. The court also stayed the vigilance court’s order imposing penalty on Moquim.

The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for October 13. Senior advocate Pitambar Acharya is pleading the case on behalf of Moqium.

Moquim had approached the Orissa High Court against his conviction by the Special Vigilance Court in Bhubaneswar in connection with a loan scam in ORHDC.

On September 29, the Vigilance Court had awarded three years of rigorous imprisonment to Moqium and three others in the ORHDC case.

According to reports, the Congress leader was working as the Managing Director of Metro Builders Private Limited during the scam.

Along with Moqium, the Vigilance Special Judge Satya Narayan Sarangi also announced three years of rigorous imprisonment for former IAS officer Vinod Kumar, Metro Builders Private Limited director Peeyushdhari Mohanty and former company secretary of ORHDC Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra in connection with the scam.

The court convicted all four persons and Metro Builders Private Limited under Section 13 (2) r/w 13(I) (D) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Section 120-B/468/471 of the IPC.

The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 each on the convicted persons making it clear that the non-payment of the penalty amount would invite another six months of jail term.

 

Also Read

Comments are closed.