Bhubaneswar: The BJP today demanded a thorough and impartial probe into the unholy nexus between minister Debi Prasad Mishra and arrested IAS officer and OSIC MD Partha Sarathi Mishra.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP state vice president Samir Mohanty said the tainted IAS officer was collecting money for Mishra as his agent.
“But as there was disagreement between them in the share of money, the minister got the IAS officer arrested by the Vigilance officials. We demand a through and impartial probe to expose the nexus between the two corrupt elements and the amount of money shared between them,” Mohanty urged.
Referring to the brutal murder of Salman Rout, a BJP activist of Tarabha village in Dhenkanal district, the BJP leader said the police is yet to include the senior BJD leader and Mines minister Prafulla Mallick under the purview of its investigation. “Police has neither included Mallick in its purview of investigation and nor has interrogated him. “We demand that the police should interrogate him without any further delay,” he added.
Coming down heavily on chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the BJP leader said the transparency of the former now lies in the cold storage. “Be it the sexual exploits of the Bhubaneswar Mayor Anant Narayan Jena and Talcher MLA Braja Pradhan or the murder of Salman Rout, the chief minister has remained a silent onlooker to these major issues,” he pointed out.
Reacting to the statement of the BJP leader, BJD spokesperson Sashibhusan Behera said, Partha Sarathi Mishra is an administrative officer. “He had not served under Debi Mishra. He had also served in Ravenshaw University. Does it mean that wherever Mishra had worked, he had shared the money? By just indulging in such baseless arguments BJP has become a laughing stock among the common people as well as the intellectuals in the state,” he maintained.