The Orissa High Court on Monday granted relief to Congress legislator Mohammed Moquim by slapping an interim stay on the execution of a conviction order passed by a special vigilance court, which had last month awarded him three years of rigorous imprisonment in a loan fraud case.
A single-judge bench of Justice B.P. Routray, which allowed the Barabati-Cuttack MLA’s criminal appeal petition, also granted him a regular bail. It directed Mr. Moquim to furnish a bail bond of ₹1 lakh with two sureties of the same amount.
Calling for the case records from the lower court, the High Court adjourned the matter to October 13. Mr. Moquim and three others, including former IAS officer Vinod Kumar, were convicted by the vigilance court on September 29. All the four were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of ₹50,000 each for causing pecuniary loss to government-owned Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC).
