Cuttack: Orissa High Court has ordered the designated CBI court in Bhubaneswar to release the passport of Lok Sabha MP and leader of the Trinamul's parliamentary party Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

The Single Judge Bench of Justice J.P. Das issued the direction to the CBI court on Tuesday after Bandyopadhyay filed a petition seeking the release of his passport.

The Trinamul MP had sought relief on ground that a Lok Sabha team, led by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, was scheduled to undertake a foreign tour from May 28 to June 1 and he had been included in the team.

The CBI had arrested the Trinamul MP in connection with its Rose Valley deposit-mobilisation probe in January last year.

The high court granted bail to Bandyopadhyay on May 19 while he was in jail custody and undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.

While granting bail, the high court had directed him to deposit Rs 25 lakh in any nationalised bank, furnish bail bonds by two guarantors with sureties of Rs 50,000 each, and submit his passport in the trial court.

Justice Das, however, directed Bandyopadhyay to submit details of his foreign trip to the trial court before going leaving the country.

The Rose Valley deposit-mobilisation scam is estimated at Rs 17,000 crore. Bandyopadhyay has been charged under Indian Penal Code sections relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy along with sections under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978.

The CBI had opposed Bandyopadhyay's bail plea on grounds that he was very influential and close to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the charge sheet had already alleged that he, by virtue of being an MP for several years, had a role in ensuring the company's financial growth.

While granting him bail, the high court had endorsed the contention of Bandyopadhyay's counsel Milan Kanungo that the vital part of the investigation had already been completed and there was no chance of tampering of prosecution evidence on the event of his release on bail as the documentary evidences on which the entire case was based had already been seized by the CBI along with arrest of the main accused.