Cuttack, Oct. 13: Orissa High Court has agreed to hear the anticipatory bail plea of BJD MLA and former government chief whip Pravat Kumar Tripathy tomorrow and extended interim protection against his arrest till then.

His plea for anticipatory bail was earlier posted by the high court for hearing on October 13. The petition was listed today for hearing.

Justice S.K. Sahoo agreed to hear the plea at 2pm tomorrow after senior advocate Pitambar Acharya, who is representing Tripathy, made special mention of the petition and pleaded to the court to accommodate the case as the interim protection against arrest was granted till today.

The 61-year-old four-time MLA from Banki had sought anticipatory bail after the CBI raided his house in Cuttack, official quarters in Bhubaneswar and the party office in his constituency to seek evidence in connection with his alleged links to the Artha Tatwa Group that has duped thousands of investors in the state.

His four bank accounts were also verified. Subsequently, the central agency quizzed Tripathy for nearly five hours on September 16.

On September 30, the single-judge bench of Justice Debabrata Dash had granted Tripathy interim protection against arrest after the CBI counsel submitted that investigating agency was waiting for forensic/voice test report from the Central Forensic State Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, of a compact disk (CD).

The CD carries the purported telephonic conversation between Tripathy and AT Group chief Pradeep Kumar Sethy. In the CD, which had surfaced last year, the MLA is allegedly heard requesting Sethy for sponsorship for the Annual Banki Mahotsava in his constituency. The CBI has been trying to ascertain whether any money transaction had taken place between Sethy and Tripathy.