Questions galore over luxury car involved in accident in Bhubaneswar 

Several questions have started doing the rounds over a luxury car (Range Rover) which was involved in an accident in which two people were critically injured near Power House Chhak in Bhubaneswar on October 31 afternoon. 

The luxury car with registration number OD-23K 0006 reportedly belongs to a company in which Bishal Kumar Das, the son of former Odisha minister Late Naba Das, is a director. There is also pictorial evidence of Bishal Das using this vehicle in the past.   

On February 5, 2023, Bishal Das was seen getting down from the same vehicle at Jhursuguda airport. According to data available from Jharsuguda RTO, the Range Rover car is registered in the name of Armour Ray Ventures Pvt Ltd.  The website of the Corporate Affairs Ministry shows that Bishal Kumar Das is one of the directors of the said company.  

The role of the Commissionerate Police also came under questioning from various quarters after it issued a press release about the accident mentioning a different registration number of the vehicle. As per reports, in the press release issued by the Commissionerate Police, the vehicle registration number was mentioned as OD-33 AF-6726. However, about two and a half hours later, the police corrected the registration number of the vehicle to OD-23K 0006. 

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Naturally, it prompted suspicion as to why the police mentioned a different registration number of the accident-causing vehicle in the press release and later corrected the mistake with an explanation. Many also wondered if the police did it deliberately under pressure from any influential persons in a bid to delink them from the accident that left two critically injured. 

Another fact that came to the fore is that after the accident, the two airbags in the front row of the car were reportedly deployed, indicating the possibility of another occupant in the car, apart from the driver, at the time of the accident.  Now, the question that crops up here is - who was driving the car, the ‘other occupant’ or the arrested person identified as Soubhagya Bag.

These questions are not yet answered and it is believed that the Commissionerate Police is better placed to find answers as the accident happened just about 50 metres away from its headquarters and the area is under heavy CCTV camera surveillance. 

Meanwhile, all efforts to contact Bishal Kumar Das over the phone remained unanswered.