Two days after Twin City Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda termed the RTI copy relating to the deployment of 74 police personnel for the security of 5T Chairman VK Pandian as fake, RTI activist Pradeep Pradhan termed the top cop's statement as unfortunate.
Addressing a press conference, Pradhan said, “On April 2, the police commissioner said the RTI copy was fake. The officer who had provided the RTI copies to us lodged a complaint against us at Sahid Nagar Police Station mentioning the documents as fake and concocted. We will also file a complaint at Sahid Nagar Police Station, seeking a high-level enquiry.”
“We know we won’t get justice because Odisha Police is controlled by VK Pandian. So the enquiry should be done by any central probe agency and we are ready to face the enquiry,” Pradhan said.
When asked, Police Commissioner Panda said, “I don’t know what he has said. So I can’t comment on it.”
Notably, the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhiyan (OSAA) convenor, Prakash Das at a press conference showed a document claiming it to be the RTI reply from the Commissionerate Police in which it was mentioned that two SIs (armed), 12 Havildars, and 60 constables, including four women constables are engaged for the security of 5T & Nabin Odisha Chairman, VK Pandian.
The OSAA had also claimed that the document was provided to them by the Reserve Police office.
The revelation made by the OSAA then stirred up a hornet’s nest, prompting the Twin City Police Commissioner to issue a statement, stating the RTI reply was fake and concocted.