Cuttack, Sept. 16: Orissa High Court has ruled that mere non-production of an accused from time to time does not render his detention in jail custody illegal. The court said there is no illegality in it as the criminal proceeding is not vitiated due to it.

The court gave the ruling in the case of a habeas corpus petition filed by industrialist and managing director of Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) Mahimananda Mishra.

A CID-crime branch joint team arrested Mishra from Thailand on December 25 in connection with the murder of Seaways Shipping and Logistics Private Limited (SSPL) general manager Mahendra Swain in Paradip.

While Mishra was lodged in jail after the local court rejected his bail plea in the murder case, the police implicated him in a four-year-old bombing and attempt-to-murder case in Cuttack apart from a firing incident in Paradip in May last year.

The high court had granted him bail in the murder case on May 16, but rejected his bail pleas in the other two cases on June 8 and June 20 respectively. As a result, he continues to be in jail since his arrest for over eight months now.

Subsequently, Mishra had filed the habeas corpus petition to produce him before the court to determine if his detention in custody is lawful. In his petition, Mishra alleged that his detention was illegal because he had not been produced before the judicial magistrate from time to time to keep him on remand in jail custody.

After reserving verdict on August 8, the court rejected Mishra's plea on Friday.

'While rejecting the habeas corpus petition, the division bench of Justice B.K. Nayak and Justice D.P. Choudhury said it was physically not possible to produce the petitioner,' said state counsel Bibhu Prasad Tripathy.

'The court further held that mere non-production of the accused will not render his remand to further custody illegal,' Tripathy said.

'In its order, the bench ruled that non-production of the accused from time to time and failure of the magistrate to pass express orders remanding the accused to the custody will not vitiate the proceeding. Hence, there is absolutely no illegality in his detention,' Tripathy said.

Investigation is on in the Paradip firing case and a chargesheet has been submitted in the bombing and attempt-to-murder case.

Cuttack police filed a chargesheet against Mishra in the bombing and attempt-to-murder case on May 3. The chargesheet named Mishra as the conspirator along with prime accused Ganesh Sahu in the case. The city police filed the chargesheet in the case before the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Cuttack, following completion of investigation in the case.