Bhubaneswar: The controversy surrounding four BJD MLAs asking for bribe from an undercover person posing as an industrialist to help set up industries in their respective constituencies took a new turn with the four tainted MLAs appearing before the police to file FIRs alleging that the sting operation is only a conspiracy to tarnish their images.
The four MLAs lodged FIRs at the Kharvelnagar police station and alleged that they were invited for a discussion regarding setting up of an industry and the conversation was recorded. They said the person claiming to be a representative of the company later blackmailed them with the recording for money. As the MLAs could not give the money, he released the recording to Media tarnishing their images. The MLAs demanded strong action against the person.
Notably, the video footage of the sting operation aired on a news channel on Monday showed four MLAs, Anama Nayak, Sushant Behera, Bijay Nayak and Seemarani Nayak, demanding hefty money as bribe from an undercover person posing as an industrialist for giving No Objection Certificate (NOC) and facilitating land acquisition to set up industries in their respective constituencies.
On the other hand, the BJP filed an FIR against the four MLAs at the Capital police station demanding action against the legislators in this connection. Besides, the State Vigilance yesterday formed five teams to probe into the incident.