Cuttack: The main convict accused in the multi-crore Artha Tatwa chit fund scam case Pradeep Sethy will have to remain behind bars for some more time. In a major blow to Sethy, the Orissa High Court Cuttack rejected a writ petition Thursday. The plea had sought for early release for him from jail custody.
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A two-member bench of the court comprising Justice Sanju Panda and Justice SK Panigrahi heard Sethy’s petition. The division bench refused to quash cases filed against him by the Odisha government in connection with the scam.
Sethy had filed his petition based on the ‘double jeopardy’ theory. In court parlance, ‘double jeopardy’ prevents a person from being tried and convicted more than once for the same offence. However, the bench refused to accept the ‘double jeopardy’ principle in this case.
“A special CBI court had convicted Sethy in the Artha Tatwa chit fund scam after he admitted his crime. Following his conviction, the Odisha government had filed several cases against him. Sethy had challenged these cases in the High Court through a writ petition. The court has refused to quash these cases”, CBI counsel Sarthak Nayak stated.
The Artha Tatwa chief has already spent over seven years in jail custody following his arrest May 13, 2013.
PNN