Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Monday granted bail to suspended IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son, Akash, in connection with a cheating case registered with the Kharvel Nagar police in Bhubaneswar.
The father-son duo was granted bail on a surety of Rs 2 lakh. The court also set certain conditions like cooperating with the investigation and not to intimidate witnesses.
A case (CR No 292/20) was registered against the Pathaks at Kharavel Nagar police station for allegedly defrauding Sky King, a Bhubaneswar-based travel agency of Rs 65 lakh. The father-son duo had reportedly booked chartered flights, five-star hotels and air tickets through the agency which amounted to Rs 2.78 crore. Although they paid Rs 2.13 crore, an outstanding bill of Rs 65,16,233 is yet to be cleared, the travel agency claimed in the complaint filed with the Commissionerate Police.
On January 27, the Vigilance court had granted bail to the father-son duo in connection with a disproportionate assets case against them. They were granted ‘default’ bail after the investigating agency failed to file the charge-sheet with 60 days.
Notably, the father-son duo was arrested in November last year by the anti-corruption wing of Odisha Police on charges of accumulating massive ‘ill-gotten’ wealth.
The HC had February 24 granted conditional bail to Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi in connection with a fraud case filed by the Crime Branch.
PNN