The Orissa High Court has dismissed the bail application of an accused in a money laundering case linked to an alleged narcotics racket after finding that he had concealed his earlier approach to the Supreme Court following the rejection of his previous bail plea.
Justice Gourishankar Satapathy declined to entertain the bail application of Rajanikanta Pattnaik and imposed a cost of ₹20,000, holding that material facts had been withheld from the court. The court observed that while Pattnaik disclosed that his earlier bail application before the High Court had been rejected on February 16, 2024, he did not reveal that he had subsequently challenged the order before the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition, which was later dismissed as withdrawn.
Court Finds Suppression of Material Facts
The High Court held that the omission to disclose the earlier proceedings before the Supreme Court amounted to suppression of material facts and undermined the fairness expected from a litigant seeking discretionary relief.
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Referring to the legal maxim “Suppressio veri, expressio falsi”, the court observed that suppression of truth is equivalent to the expression of falsehood and found the conduct sufficient to reject the fresh bail plea.
Fine Imposed and Fresh Bail Subject to Conditions
The court directed Pattnaik to deposit ₹20,000 with the Juvenile Justice Fund of the Odisha State Legal Services Authority in Cuttack within four weeks.
It further clarified that he would be at liberty to file a fresh bail application only after depositing the cost and approaching the court with clean hands.
Case Stems From Alleged Narcotics Linked Money Laundering Probe
Pattnaik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 7, 2023, in a money laundering case arising out of an alleged narcotics racket.
The prosecution case originates from a raid conducted by Khallikote Police in Ganjam district in October 2021. According to the case records referred to by the court, authorities allegedly recovered 34.094 kg of ganja, 10.010 kg of opium, ₹75.09 lakh in cash, and gold and silver articles from the accused’s premises. The court also noted that while rejecting the earlier bail application in February 2024, it had held that the Enforcement Directorate had collected sufficient prima facie material indicating that the accused’s movable and immovable properties were proceeds of crime.
