The Orissa High Court on Friday refused to grant bail to Soumya Sankar Chakra alias Raja and Susanta Kumar Samal, two key accused in a massive financial scam linked to the Gandhamardan Loading Agency and Transporting Co-operative Society Ltd.
Justice Gourishankar Satapathy, while rejecting their pleas, remarked that “bail involves balancing individual liberty and societal interest,” but noted that both accused were “influential persons” who could potentially influence witnesses. “Considering the magnitude of the financial fraud and the ongoing investigation, it is undesirable to grant bail at this stage,” the judge observed.
The case centres around allegations that office-bearers of the cooperative society — formed to aid villagers affected by mining operations in Keonjhar district — misappropriated funds to the tune of ₹40–50 crore annually between 2017–18 and 2023–24.
According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), transactions worth over ₹175 crore were detected against the society’s declared income of ₹184 crore. Investigators said more than ₹31 crore was transferred to unrelated accounts. This included ₹12.9 crore withdrawn through associates of petitioner Chakra and ₹9.39 crore paid to a petrol pump without any legitimate transactions.
Samal, another petitioner, was found to have received ₹1.64 crore from the society’s account. He admitted to signing 51 self-cheques allegedly issued for “periphery development” works, which government officials later confirmed never took place.
Chakra and Samal were arrested in March this year. Earlier, the High Court had dismissed Chakra’s pre-arrest bail plea in March and his regular bail in May. The Keonjhar district court had only granted him a temporary 15-day bail in August to attend his father-in-law’s last rites.
With the EOW still tracing the diversion of large sums of money and investigating the role of multiple beneficiaries, the High Court concluded that releasing the accused at this stage would adversely impact the ongoing probe
