No HC interim protection for ex-minister

The HC has also rejected Mohanty’s plea to quash Barsha’s FIR in which she complained that she was subjected to physical torture by her in-laws who demanded Rs 25 lakh and a Scorpio vehicle as dowry.

The ex-minister on Monday had filed a petition before HC seeking interim protection that no coercive action should be taken by the investigating police and the Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) team until the petition is disposed of.

Meanwhile whereabouts of the Basta legislator has raised eyebrows among many with the absence of Mohanty in the ongoing session since he tendered resignation as the Housing and Urban development minister Friday last on moral grounds.

More so, the HRPC team which returned empty-handed, without meeting any of the legislator’s family members when it visited the latter’s Amarda Road house on Wednesday morning, has prompted speculation that all the accused have kept their whereabouts secret.

The team, accompanied by one of the complainant’s relatives quizzed the former minister’s cook, the lone member present in the house during their visit and too recorded statements of some neighbours of Mohanty in connection with the dowry torture case.  

On Monday Barsha’s husband Rajashree was remanded to 14 day judicial custody after the Balasore SDJM court rejected his anticipatory bail.