Giving a fresh twist to the row over Naba Das murder investigation, BJD’s Pipili MLA Rudra Pratap Maharathy on Wednesday alleged that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Leader of Opposition, Jayanarayan Mishra may have involvement in the minister’s murder case and demanded an enquiry in this regard.
“During the Padampur by-election, late health minister Naba Das had told me that Dharmendra Pradhan and Jayanarayan Mishra were using force and intimidating him. They were asking him stay away from the Padampur by-election,” said Maharathy.
“He had also told me that he was not the person who is scared by intimidation. He was the in-charge of the Padampur by-election. And because of his management, the result was good,” added Maharathy.
Maharathy further added, “So their (Dharmendra Pradhan and Jayanarayan Mishra) involvement is suspected. And it should be investigated to find out whether they are involved or not.”
While both Dharmendra Pradhan and Jayanarayan Mishra couldn’t be contacted for their reactions on the BJD MLA's allegation, BJP’s Dhamnagar MLA, Suryabanshi Suraj responded saying, “Naba babu (Minister Naba Das) was a senior leader. Why he should discuss these things with Rudra Pratap Maharathy. If he was scared, he could have spoken to the party supremo. He could also have taken up the matter with the Election Commissioner. He could have sought police intervention.”
“And in these things, I can clearly see a conspiracy of the ruling dispensation to divert people’s attention from Naba Das murder case to somewhere else,” added Suraj.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding that the case should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so that everything would be transparent,” said Suraj.
Earlier on February 8, BJP leader Pradeep Purohit alleged that a person from within the BJD party with an aspiration of becoming the next Chief Minister of Odisha conspired to eliminate Naba Das.
(Reported by Jagdish Das, OTV)