Bhubaneswar: Gangster Raja Acharya was released from Jharpada Special Jail here today, five days after the Orissa High Court granted him bail in a 2010 case pertaining to the abduction of an employee of Jyoti Motors and extortion of money from him.

The court had on April 20 granted Acharya conditional bail against two sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The court had also directed him to appear before Lingaraj police station on a regular basis.

On the other hand, Twin City Commissioner of Police, YB Khurania had recently said that the Commissionerate Police will file a petition seeking cancellation of the bail after obtaining necessary documents from the High Court.

The Bhubaneswar Additional District Judge Court had in March, last year rejected Acharya’s bail plea in the kidnapping and extortion case, following which he moved the High Court seeking bail.

Notably, Acharya was convicted in the murder of judo coach Biranchi Das and serving life term in the Jharpada jail since 2008. He was arrested from Goa on May 28, 2008. The Bhubaneswar District and Sessions Court had convicted him in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

However, Raja had petitioned the High Court challenging the lower court’s verdict. Since the matter did not come up for hearing in the High Court, Raja had moved the Supreme Court which granted him bail in the murder case on March 10, 2017.