Archana Nag case: BJP members, police scuffle during protest rally in Bhubaneswar

The Sishu Bhawan square of Bhubaneswar on Monday witnessed a high voltage drama as the police waylaid a large group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members heading towards Naveen Niwas resulting in a scuffle.

As per reports, the BJP took out a peaceful march protesting alleged police inaction in Archana Nag case and BJD ZP member Dharmendra Sahu death case. However, tension erupted when BJP members tried to remove the barricades put by police to halt their march at Sishu Bhawan square. BJP members scuffled with police while trying to stop them from advancing.

Speaking to reporters, BJP leader Pravati Parida said, “Naveen Patnaik is in a deep slumber and we need to wake him up. It has become very difficult for the people to get justice these days.”

“Instead of revealing the names of leaders involved in Archana Nag case and arresting Minister Sameer Ranjan Das who is responsible for the death of Dharmendra Sahu, the police are stopping us from taking out protest,” Parida added.

Similarly, BJP leader Sonali Sahu said, “Forget about arresting the BJD leaders involved in Archana Nag case, they are not even brought under investigation by the police. Same thing is happening in the Dharmendra Sahu death case as well. Despite allegations from several sources, Minister Sameer Ranjan Das is still out of the police’s purview of investigation. This is really unfortunate.”

Refuting BJP’s allegations, BJD MLA, Ananta Narayan Jena said, “We are not perturbed by their allegations. It is their hobby to take to streets. Their allegations are baseless.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the BJP had threatened to gherao the Naveen Niwas on Sunday if the state government did not reveal the names of the leaders involved with Nag. Coming down heavily on CM Naveen Patnaik, BJP general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar had said, “Despite knowing **everything, the CM is silent. Several BJD leaders are involved in the case and the government is shielding them with the support of police.”

(Reported By Chandan Paikray & Harihar Chand, OTV)