The Odisha High Court on Friday granted bail to Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Before securing bail, Bandyopadhyay will have to deposit Rs 25 lakh as surety and surrender his passport, reported The Times of India.

The high court had concluded hearing of the bail plea on May 8 and reserved the judgment. During the hearing earlier this month, Bandyopadhyay’s counsel pleaded innocence and asked for bail on health grounds. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the Rs 17,000-crore scam, had opposed the bail plea. The agency had argued that investigation into the case would get affected if Bandyopadhyay was granted bail, according to The Times of India.

The Lok Sabha MP was arrested by the CBI on January 3. Bandyopadhyay and another party leader Tapas Pal were issued summons in the case on December 27, 2016.

While Bandyopadhyay had cried foul and said the allegations against him were a result of political vendetta, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had said that her party was being targeted for their opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move.

The BJP office in Kolkata was attacked by Trinamool workers after Bandyopadhyay’s arrest. On January 4, TMC workers had held state-wide protests against the arrest of Bandyopadhyay. Vehicles were left stranded along National Highway-2 after party workers blocked a stretch near Asansol. They also blocked a railway line in Cooch Behar.

The CBI had earlier accused Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu and three others of defrauding investors from across the country of more than Rs 17,000 crore. In its chargesheet, the agency had said that it was still investigating the role of “influential people” in the case, besides money trails.