Acting on the directive of the Odisha High Court, members of the Mahanagar Nagarika Committee on Sunday filed an FIR against 32 persons allegedly involved in the loot of relief materials meant for the cyclone-hit victims from the office of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in October last.
The FIR has mentioned the names of 29 CMC corporators,the Mayor and the two city BJD MlAs. The committee members said they had lodged a complaint in this regard at the Purighat police station here on October 29 last, but the case has not yet been registered. Due to the gross apathy of the police, the committee filed a writ in the High Court on December 9.
The High Court later asked the committee to take up the matter with the city DCP. So, a delegation of the committee led by Ashok Samal, Anadi Sahu, Maheswar Das, Rabi Mallick, Braja Biswal, Dr Rabi Ranjan Sahu and Mohinimohan Samal on Sunday met the DCP and submitted a memorandum demanding immediate action, the committee members said.
Pointing out that the Vigilance department, after its two-month probe, has not registered cases against the political leaders involved in the loot, the committee members said the Vigilance investigation at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s instance wing was meant only to hoodwink the people.
In the wake of the public outcry over the looting of relief materials, the Government merely transferred CMC Commissioner Nihar Ranjan Mohapatra and suspended another CMC officer, Jaganarayan Kujur. Besides, the BJD also suspended its Cuttack City president Madhusudan Sahu.