Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: With BJD strongman Damodar Rout targetting a powerful section of the party, Orissa government has asked the police to inform it about the status of a case against the former minister, official sources said on Saturday.

Rout, who alleged yesterday that chief minister Naveen Patnaik was only implementing the decisions of party MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, was dropped from the cabinet on May 9.

Rout at a public meeting at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district on August 21, 2010 had allegedly referred to Jagatsinghpur MLA, Jagatsinghpur MP and a local senior officer as "Harijans."

A case had been registered against Rout at Kujang police station basing on a complaint made by one Manoj Kumar Bhoi for his alleged act of hurting the sentiments of dalit community by using the word "Harijan" .

Rout had obtained bail in connection with the case.

The scheduled tribe and scheduled caste development department on Thursday asked the superintendent of police (SP), Jagatsinghpur to inform the government on the actions taken against the former minister in the case.

"I request you to kindly intimate the present position of the case as filed by Manoj Kumar Bhoi on this issue at an early date," M Paikray, under secretary to the government said in a letter to the Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police.

Paikray also informed the superintendent of police in the letter that the National Commission for SC, New Delhi had been pressing on the issue relating to Rout and wanted to know on what action was taken against Rout.

The BJD strongman had, meanwhile, said that he had already tendered an apology on the issue if his words had hurt anybody in the community.

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