Naba Das Murder: Court rejects Crime Branch plea for mental health evaluation of accused Gopal Das again

In a setback for the Odisha Police Crime Branch (CB), the Additional District Judge (ADJ) of Jharsuguda on Friday rejected its plea for mental health evaluation of Naba Das murder accused Gopal Das.

As per reports, the ADJ court rejected the revision petition on technical grounds after a lower court rejected the same petition earlier.

The Crime Branch had urged the court to allow it to take Gopal Das to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru for his mental health evaluation for three weeks.

Speaking on the revision petition, a lawyer in Jharsuguda, Dinesh Jain said, “The ground on which the lower court had quashed the application earlier was completely valid. The Crime Branch need not go to an upper court with the same documents.”

“All these exercises by the CB are not meant to charge accused Gopal Das in Naba Das murder. Rather they are aimed to set Gopal free,” he alleged.

The Crime Branch sources on Friday confirmed that Gopal Das is the prime accused and he murdered Health minister Naba Das over personal vendetta.

"The investigation into the Naba Das murder case is in its last stage. Accused Gopal Das has confessed to killing minister Das over personal vendetta. The Crime Branch is only verifying the veracity of Gopal Das’ statement," sources said.

(Reported By Bhagirathi Sahu, OTV)