Chit fund Scam: HC denies bail to Preeti Bhatia

The Orissa High Court on Monday rejected the bail plea of Mumbai-based model Preeti Bhatia, who was arrested by the CBI on October 14 last year for her alleged links with Artha Tatwa Group and multi-crore chit fund scam.

The CBI counsel argued in the court that granting bail to Pritee at this stage could affect the ongoing probe into the money trail in the case.

On the other hand, Preeti’s counsel prayed court for bail to the model arguing that a woman in jail for about four months may lose mental balance while other accused like Ranjan Das, Pravat Tripathy were already resealed from jail in the same case. However, all his arguments failed to satisfy the court.

The CBI had raided Preeti’s house in Mumbai on August 16 last year and had found business links between Bhatia and AT group CMD Pradip Sethi, who were directors in a company called Prism Heights Films & Entertainment Private Limited, based in Mumbai.

Preeti was arrested after it was found during probe that funds from Artha Tatwa (AT) Group had been diverted to her personal, company and relatives’ accounts without any valid reason.

The model was earlier denied bail by the special CBI court and Khurdha district and sessions court in October last year.