Pari Murder Case: Odisha Congress In-Charge Chella Kumar Admits 'Differences Among Leaders'

Bhubaneswar: After facing criticism over its silence on the brutal murder case of Pari, a five year-old girl from Nayagarh district, Odisha Congress in-charge A. Chella Kumar On Friday admitted that there were differences among the leaders on the issue.

While talking to reporters, Kumar said, “The Congress party wants early justice for the victim girl’s family. However, there was some miscommunication among the party MLAs over the issue. Our MLAs including Suresh Routray and Santosh Singh Saluja had brought some accusations against their colleagues and it was only due to misconstruation,” said Kumar.

Kumar’s clarification comes days after both Routray and Saluja expressed displeasure over the change of stand of the party on the Pari murder case.

On November 30, Congrress MLA Suresh Routray had alleged that the party legislators preferred to remain silent in the Odisha Assembly during discussions over the subject as they had been ‘managed’.

Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja too stated that the party’s stand was very clear in the initial phase but later it went mum after the demand for a SIT probe into the case was fulfilled.

"As per our Legislature Party leader's decision, we would demand a SIT probe and once it was fulfilled, we would allow the House to function," said Saluja.

Clarifying on the issue, Kumar today stated that the Congress party including the CLP leader Narasingha Mishra had demanded SIT probe into the Pari murder case.

"How can we trust CBI probe as it has failed to expose several scams and nab the accused for the last 15 years in Odisha. For this reason, we had demanded an SIT probe monitored by the Orissa High Court,” said Kumar.

Kumar further said that the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had accepted Congress' demand for a SIT probe in the Pari murder case.