Ex-legislator remanded to 5-day police custody

Berhampur: The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate here today allowed police to take former MLA Ramesh Jena on five-day remand. The police had moved the court seeking 14-day remand.

The arrested congress leader was taken to Gopalpur police station for interrogation soon after the court granted remand. The family and relatives of Jena can meet him at the police station, a court statement said.

The ex-legislator and four others including his father Arakhita Jena were sent to judicial custody as a court had rejected their bail pleas.

While Jena (38) and his three associates Rama Krushna Padhy (30), Prem Chandra Panda (28) and Jagata Behera (23) were booked for bombing the house of Ranjit Nayak, a Congress corporator of Berhampur Municipal Corporation on February 28 night, the ex-MLA's father Arakhita Jena (67) was arrested for illegal possession of firearms in his house.

Ramesh, who was MLA from Sanakhemundi in Ganjam district from 2009 to 2014, was also accused of illegal possession of firearms.

During his arrest from a flat in Bhubaneswar, the police seized a 9-mm pistol and five live ammunition from Jena's car.

The vehicle was used for the escape of the accused persons implicated in the bombing case, ASP (Berhampur) Trinath Patel had said.

The police had also seized over Rs 10.70 lakh in cash and a gun from the house of Arakhita during the raids, he said.