Bhubaneswar: BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday expelled Ollywood comic actor and casting couch accused Tatwa Prakash Satpathy aka Papu Pom Pom from the primary membership of the party.
"BJD President and honourable Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today expelled Tatwa Prakash Satpathy - Papu Pom Pom - from the party," BJD general secretary and Industries minister announced this evening.
The expulsion was along expected lines after comic actors's name cropped in two back-to-back scandals - his nexus with chit fund company Oscar and its chief Prabhas Rout and sexual harassment of a minor girl on the pretext of giving her a break in films.
Pappu has remained incommunicado since a complaint was filed against him at the Mahila police station here on behalf of the minor victim of the casting couch syndrome by Friends Foundation Trust. A police team that went to his Jagannath Vihar residence here yesterday returned empty handed.
Ever since the issue started hogging the headlines, the BJP and Congress have trained their guns on the beleaguered actor, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 general elections from Champua constituency in Keonjhar district in a BJD ticket, demanding his immediate arrest.
Accusing the ruling BJD of shielding the actor, the saffron party said, “Why is the ruling party silent on the issue? Is it protecting a person who is accused of sexually exploiting a minor? Naveen Patnaik should immediately sack the actor from the party.”
Besides the allegations, fierce protests staged by women activists of several organisations in many parts of the State also played their part in persuading the BJD supremo to take action against the actor-turned politician.
Political analysts say the hands of BJD, already on a back foot over the actor’s alleged involvement in the Rs 230 crore Oscar Group chit fund scam, were forced after the casting couch allegation against him.
Senior BJD leader and Excise minister Damodar Rout admitted as much when he said; "After a police case on a serious charge was lodged against him and he went missing, what else could the party have done?"
Earlier in the day, Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said a team had been formed by the commissionerate police to trace the absconding actor.