Bhubaneswar: Alleging the complicity of BMC Mayor Anant Narayan Jena in the death of Ashutosh Mohanty alias Rishi, an engineering student, the BJP today gave a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk Bhubaneswar bandh call on Wednesday.
Announcing the decision at a press briefing here, Bhubaneswar District BJP President Harekrushna Khuntia said no vehicles in the city will be allowed to ply during the 12-hour bandh which will begin from 6 AM. “I request the auto-rickshaw owners association, private bus owners association, the bazaar committee association as well as the school and college students to join our agitation. I hope that if all of us will make a concerted effort we will be able to send the killer of the engineering student to jail. I request all the denizens of Bhubaneswar to make the bandh a total success,” Khuntia said.
Present at the press briefing, BJP state vice president Samir Mohanty said barring ambulance, hospital and other essential services, all trading establishments would remain closed on Wednesday. “We request the people of Bhubaneswar to extend their unstinting support to the peaceful bandh call,” he added.
Talking about the two-hour ‘Chaka Jam’ agitation by the BJP activists in all municipalities, NACs and Municipal Corporations across the state today, Mohanty said out of 112 civic bodies, the agitation was successful in 102 civic bodies while preparation for the agitation is on in the remaining civic bodies.
The BJP leader said his party had informed the commissionerate police about the proof on complicity of the BMC Mayor in the death of Rishi about seven months ago. But the police had kept the investigation under the carpet. “Now that the police have started interrogating the family members, friends and a girlfriend of Rishi only after we have intensified our agitation, it is amply clear that the BMC Mayor is involved in the death of the engineering student,” Mohanty pointed out.
Stating that police investigation into Rishi’s death has been deliberately delayed as the chief minister has tacit support for the Mayor, Mohanty said taking this into consideration and to ensure justice to the people of Bhubaneswar and the family of Rishi, BJP has decided to intensify its agitation in the coming days.