Bhubaneswar, March 4: Supporters of Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy celebrated their leader's release from Jharapada jail on bail today with a bang.

Hundreds of the supporters of Tripathy, a heavyweight of the BJD, waited for hours for his release outside the jail. As soon as he stepped out of the jail in the evening, firecrackers went off in celebration. The mood was so charged that Tripathy could not control his emotions and broke down.

The CBI had arrested Tripathy on October 31 last year for his alleged links with the Artha Tatwa Group, a money deposit collection company. He was released after Orissa High Court had granted him bail yesterday.

"I have full faith in the judiciary. I do not want to comment on the investigation as the matter is sub-judice. Everything will be clear in the near future," said the legislator after his release. In a show of strength, his supporters organised a procession.

The preliminary charge-sheet filed by the CBI in December last year had indicted Tripathy for taking Rs 42 lakh from the group to promote its illegal business. Tripathy, also a former president of the Odisha State Co-operative Union, allegedly took the money in cash to extend patronage to the group's chief Pradeep Sethy to run his money deposit collection business.

EOW arrest

The economic offences wing today arrested Laxman Panigrahi, 57, director of Land India Real Estate Private Ltd, a firm, for allegedly cheating thousands of investors of Rs 8 crore on the pretext of providing higher percentage of interest on their deposits.

Police said the real-estate firm was operating from Nayapalli and Panigrahi along with other office-bearers, who had raised crores of rupees from investors in Bhubaneswar, Polasara and other places in Ganjam district. "They collected the money through various schemes such as double return scheme, monthly income scheme and recurring deposit scheme with the assurance of high rate of interest and thereby inducing people to deposit money through leaflets and colourful brochures," said deputy inspector general of the wing Sanjay Kumar.

The wing had registered a case against the company on January 5 after getting complaints from investors. The investigating agency found that the company had collected the money between 2011 and 2013. The company's sister concern, Land India Assets Limited, had also collected money.

"Further investigation revealed that the company closed down its office on July 2013 after it had failed to pay the interest and the maturity amount to the investors," said an official. In January, the wing had arrested two other directors of the company, Braja Sundar Mishra and Nrusingha Nath, for cheating the investors.

CBI raid

The CBI today conducted raids at 43 places across the country, including Bhubanes-war, against money deposit collection company Rose Valley. The company's office in Bhubaneswar was searched. The company has allegedly duped over 1.25 lakh people of more than Rs 100 crore in the state.