Berhampur: Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda has sought legal advice from his lawyer to file a defamation case against former Union Minister Braja Tripathy, who had alleged that the ruling BJD had paid him Rs 45 lakh.
Talking to OTV, his lawyer Deepak Patnaik said he had a discussion with Panda yesterday during which the jailed rebel expressed anguish over the allegation made by Braja Tripathy. “Sabyasachi wants a CBI probe into the whole matter,” Patnaik said.
“If Tripathy does not apologise unconditionally, then he (Sabyasachi) will file a defamation case against him,” the lawyer said quoting Panda.
"It is now confirmed that neither Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda nor his namesake, a Chhatrapur resident, had received any amount from the ruling party. So, Tripathy’s allegation is politically motivated. If he had links with BJD, how come the government has registered so many fake cases against him? Patnaik wondered.
When asked whether the Maoist leader had any relationship with the former minister in the past, the lawyer said Sabyasachi had addressed a students’ rally in favour of ‘Mandal Commssion’ in 1989 in Puri when Triapthy was an MLA and was present in the rally as a guest. Since, then, he had no links with him.
Tripathy, a member of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, had on Tuesday accused BJD of transferring Rs 45 lakh to Maoist leader Sabyasahi Panda’s bank account during the 2014 general election. But, later police had confirmed that the account no cited by Tripathy belongs to another Sabyasachi Panda, who is a resident of Chhatrapur.
"I am in possession of documents that Rs 45 lakh was transferred from BJD's SBI, Bhubaneswar account No. 10091755246 to Sabyasachi Panda's ICICI Bank Chhatrapur branch (Ganjam district) account No. 203601501728 on April 10, 2014," Tripathy had alleged.
He had further alleged that a day earlier, on April 9, 2014, Rs 1.5 lakh was transferred from Panda's account to a BJD leader’s account through cheque. Citing these two transactions, Tripathy had said BJD had links with Maoists and had used the rebels for electoral gain.
Meanwhile, the Chatrapur based Sabyasachi, after having denied any truck with the ruling party on Thursday, admitted yesterday that he had indeed paid Rs 1 lakh to the BJD syaing it was a 'donation from a well wisher'. He said he and his family were admirers of BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Panda had said.