Man convicted for kidnapping IAS officer gets bail from HC

The Orissa High Court today overruled a lower court order sentencing a man to life imprisonment in the kidnapping case of an IAS officer in 2011 and granted him bail.
A division bench of justices Indrajit Mahanty and Biswajit Mohanty granted the bail plea of Tapan Saha and directed the Malkangiri district and session court to impose necessary conditions.
Saha, who was working as a contractual government employee, had accompanied the then district collector R Vineel Krishna and others to Raliguda village during a 'Jan Sampark' camp in February 2011.
However, after the camp, when the IAS officer went to other nearby villages to inspect developmental works, Tapan decided to stay back.

Krishna was then abducted by Maoists and he was released over a week later.
Suspecting Saha's role in the kidnapping, police had arrested him in March 2012 and he was awarded life sentence in in May by the Malkangiri court.
Saha appealed against his conviction in the high court in July.