Cuttack, March 3: Orissa High Court today granted bail to suspended BJD leader and MLA Pravata Kumar Tripathy, whom the CBI has accused of having links with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group that has duped thousands of investors in the state.

More than four months after the CBI had arrested him, the single-judge bench of Justice Raghubir Dash granted bail to Tripathy for surety of Rs 10 lakh.

The former BJD chief whip will be released from the special jail in Bhubaneswar after completing the formalities.

Tripathy had moved the high court after being denied bail by lower courts following his arrest for alleged links with AT group chief Pradeep Sethy. He challenged the Khurda district and sessions court's order, which refused his bail plea on health grounds after the CBI counsel had opposed it claiming that the MLA's release from jail could lead to tampering with evidence.

Justice Dash, however, ruled that the petitioner 'is entitled to bail at this stage' and imposed some conditions for his release on bail.

While allowing bail for Rs 10 lakh surety, Justice Dash also put additional conditions, which include one surety of like amount, surrender of his passport and not to indulge in activities that would amount to tampering evidence or influence witnesses.

Tripathy, who represents Banki in the Assembly, was arrested on October 31 last year after the high court had refused to grant him anticipatory bail. He was suspended from the BJD on the same day.

In its chargesheet filed on December 15, the CBI indicated that Tripathy had taken 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 Sethy to run his money deposit collection business.

The chargesheet also accused Tripathy of playing a role in awarding Sethy as the Best Youth Co-operator by the union within 15 days of registration of Artha Tatwa Multi Purpose Co-operative Society Ltd.

It also mentioned that Tripathy had asked Sethy to finance the Banki Mahotsav, an annual cultural event in his constituency.

In a compact disc, which had surfaced in 2013, the MLA is allegedly heard requesting Sethy for sponsorship for the annual event.

Though Tripathy denied the allegations before he was arrested by the CBI, the chargesheet mentioned that the voice test conducted by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory had nailed the Banki MLA.

'Tripathy, during his tenure as the union president from 2008 to 2011, had used his influence over the assistant registrar of co-operative societies to register the group's society at an early date. Sethy was awarded without any achievement to the co-operative movement,' the chargesheet states.