HC asks arrested ex-AG to move lower court for bail

Orissa High Court today directed arrested former advocate general Ashok Mohanty to move Khurda district and sessions court in Bhubaneswar for bail.
If approached, the Bhubaneswar court shall consider the bail application of Mohanty in the first hour of Friday and ensure that the certified copy of the order is made available to the counsel of Mohanty before 1 PM on the same day, said the single judge bench of Justice S K Mishra.
In case the petitioner failed to obtain bail from the lower court he is at liberty to approach the HC, Mishra said.
The HC asked the designated CBI court in Bhubaneswar to submit all the case records and relevant documents before the sessions court in the first hour of Friday.

The CBI counsel, who was present in the court, was directed to be present in the sessions court along with the updated case diary in the matter.
Mohanty had moved the HC directly for bail as the district and sessions court, Khurda, was closed due to the state-wide agitation by lawyers against his arrest by CBI in the multi-crore rupees ponzi schme scam.

Though HC lawyers too boycotted work for the past two days, his bail application today was moved by his counsel Deepali Mohapatra and Sujata Jena, who explained the situation to the court.
While noted criminal advocate Dharanidhar Nayak argued Mohanty's case, CBI was represented by its counsel K P Mishra.

Mohanty is presently lodged at the special jail in Bhubaneswar and his judicial custody will continue till September 30 as the special chief judicial magistrate's court rejected his bail petition last night.
Mohanty, who had relinquished the position of AG on September 12, was arrested by the central investigating agency from his house here on September 22 in connection with his alleged link with the chairman-cum-managing director of a ponzi scheme company and entering into a fraudulent property deal with it.
After taking the 70-year-old Mohanty on remand for two days, he was produced today before the CBI court, which had remanded him to judicial custody after rejecting his bail.

A special investigating team of CBI is currently investigating the multi-crore rupees ponzi scam in Odisha following Supreme Court directions.