Nayagarh: In a new revelation pertaining to the alleged abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl from Nayagarh, it has come to fore that the Orissa High Court had declined to accept the request of the State government to monitor the SIT probe into the case by a sitting HC judge.
The disclosure was made by the Additional Deputy Registrar of the Court in response to a RTI query filed by social activist Hemant Panda.
As per the RTI reply, the High Court did not accept the State government’s request to accord permission to appoint a sitting judge of the Court to monitor the probe by a SIT into the sensational murder.
While responding to the plea of the Odisha government to accord permission to monitor investigation of the Special Investigation Team by a Sitting Judge, the HC did not accept the request and the same was 'regretted and communicated to the State Government confidentially on 01.12.2020'.
Addressing a presser on Sunday, Panda lashed out at the State government for not making the same public even after over two months of the Court's decision and said that the silence of the government led to a confusion among people and political parties in the State.
After the HC's denial, the State government could have sought a high-level inquiry into the murder case, Panda added.
Taking the clue from the RTI reply, the Leader of Opposition, Pradipta Naik threw some serious questions at the Odisha government. Taking to Twitter, Naik said, "Odisha government misused the High Court's name to mislead the public. The ulterior motive of the government behind the SIT probe is revealed after this."
"If the High Court never monitored the probe, then why the government lied to us about submission of probe report to the court in a closed envelope," asked Naik.
Similarly, BJP General Secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar rapped the government over the RTI revelation. "When the government received letter from the Orissa High Court denying to monitor the SIT, why did several ministers and the DGP lie to the public about this," asked Lekhashree.
She further demanded to bring breach of privilege motion against those BJD MLAs who lied inside the Assembly about SIT probe.
However, refuting the allegations BJD Spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said, "SIT is regularly apprising court about the progress of the case. The HC is satisfied with the probe. However, BJP is doing cheap politics."