Job racket case: 3 more withdraw complaints against Pradeep Panigrahi

In a new twist to the job racket case, three more complainants withdrew their complaints against Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahi on Wednesday.

The complainants have reportedly admitted before the Berhampur JMFC Court that Panigrahi has not taken any money from them.

According to senior BJP leader Panigrahi’s lawyer Deepak Patnaik, the complainants told the Magistarate that the Police IG forced them to register complaints against Panigrahi by intimidating them.

“Three informants came to the court today. They admitted that they had not done any kind of transaction with Pradeep Panigrahi. One of the complainants admitted that he was forced to register a complaint against Panigrahi as police and some BJD leaders forced him,” said Panigrahi’s lawyer Deepak Patnaik.

Read Also: Was Pradeep Panigrahi falsely implicated in job racket case during BJD tenure?

In response to the development, Panigrahi said that it would not be right for him to comment anything over the matter as it is sub-judice.

“I was present during the trial of the case as per my duty. As the matter is sub-judice, it will not be right for me to give any statement about it,” said Panigrahi.

Earlier, two complainants- Laxidhar Nayak and Prabhat Kumar Nayak had admitted before the Court that they were pressurized by some senior officials of the district administration and BJD leaders to lodge complaints against Panigrahi in Golanthara police station. Both the complainants further admitted that they had not done any kind of financial transactions with Panigrahi in this regard.

Patnaik informed in this regard on December 10. Patnaik gave the explosive statement following the trial of the case in the Berhampur JMFC Court.

As many as five persons had registered complaints against Panigrahi alleging his involvement in the job racket.

Following the development, it is suspected that the senior BJP leader might have been falsely implicated by the BJD in connection with running a job racket in the name of a reputed automobile company.