THE Supreme Court rejected the bail plea of BJP MLA from G Udayagiri Manoj Pradhan in a murder case on Jan 25.
A division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijhar, set aside the Orissa High Court order.
Pradhan, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was convicted on June 29 2010 for “causing grievous hurt” and “rioting.” He was sentenced to seven years of prison in the murder of Nayak, of Budedi village, who died on Aug. 27 2008.
In its decision, the Supreme Court ordered the High Court to reconsider its decision to grant him bail.
Pradhan had been granted bail by the High Court on July 6, having won the April 2009 State Assembly election.
Kanak Rekha Nayak, the widow of Nayak, had moved the apex court with a special leave petition. The government was made a party in the case. The State government’s standing counsel Suresh Tripathy, considering the gravity of the case, supported the cancellation of the bail. He argued that being an MLA could not be the ground for bail.
Pradhan had become a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Kandhamal’s G. Udayagiri constituency.
On Sept. 9 2010 he was convicted in the murder of Bikram Nayak of Budedipada, for which he was sentenced to six years imprisonment. He received bail within 40 days of that conviction.
Kanak Rekha had pointed out in her petition that there were seven other murder cases against Pradhan, including the second conviction.
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