Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has granted bail to four persons accused in a Rs 316 crore GST fraud case considering their pre-trial detention of one year and nine months.
“Taking into account a hypothetical consideration that the personal liberty of the petitioners cannot be restored back if the prosecution fails to bring home the charge against them on the face of the prolonged incarceration further detention of the petitioners in custody reasonably may not be in the interest of justice,” the single judge bench of Justice Gaurishankar Satapathy observed.
Four among the eight accused in the case had applied for bail. They were in custody since July 6, 2022.
The HC has asked the four – Subash Kandulna, Chhatar Singh, Ram Bharose Shaw and Dhanman Shaw – to furnish property surety of Rs 50 lakh each in addition to bail bonds of Rs 5 lakh each to the satisfaction of the trial court.
According to the case records, 10 of the 23 witnesses are yet to be examined and while one among them has died, the whereabouts of another is not known.The three others are official witnesses, the rest five are private witnesses.
