A special court here on Saturday rejected the bail plea of arrested ponzi scam accused MLA Pravat Tripathy and allowed CBI to take him on remand till November 13. Tripathy, who was yesterday arrested by CBI on charge of criminal conspiracy and accepting of huge sums of money from chitfund company Artha Tatwa Group, was produced before the special CBI court which remanded him to the custody of the central investigating agency till November 13.

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The MLA's lawyer Omprakash Ray opposed CBI's petition. "As Tripathy has been interrogated four times before the arrest, there is no need for CBI to take him on remand," Ray said, adding the investigating agency has no sufficient evidence against his client.

The CBI counsel argued that it was essential for the investigation to put Tripathy on further interrogation about his alleged link with incarcerated Artha Tatwa CMD Pradeep Sethy.Before being whisked away by the police to the court, Tripathy claimed he was not connected with the chitfund scam.

Earlier in the day, doctors conducted a health check up on Tripathy at the CBI office here and found his health condition and blood pressure well within normal parameters.

Though Tripathy was immediately suspended from BJD by the party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday, party leader in Lok Sabha and Cuttack MP Bhartuhari Mahtab denounced it.

"I think Tripathy's suspension was not justified. He has a lot of contribution towards the party and the state. The MLA's arrest was controversial," Mahtab told a local TV channel. 

"CBI, a few days back, had told the Orissa High Court that it did not want to arrest Tripathy, but wanted to interrogate him to ascertain certain facts in connection with the chitfund scam," Mahtab claimed.

A large number of Tripathy's supporters protested his arrest near the CBI office and also gathered outside the court giving a tough time to the police. Meanwhile, special CBI judge P L Satpathy today rejected the bail plea of three top executives of Nabadiganta Capital Services.

Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Nabadiganta Anjan Kumar Baliarsingh and directors Kartikeya Parida and Pradeep Patnaik, who were arrested by CBI on October 26, were produced in the court at the end of their six-day remand period.