On a notice served by the Puri police on Tuesday to former MP Baijayant (Jay) Panda regarding his alleged chopper ride in the ‘no flying eco-sensitive zone’ of Chilika lake on September 15, a team of five persons consisting officials of Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Limited (IMFA) and lawyers appeared in Puri on behalf of Panda on Wednesday.
In a closed door room inside the police station that continued from 12 pm to 3.30 pm, they faced the queries of police and submitted testimonials in support of Panda.
Nobody was allowed inside the room during the interrogations. After the meeting, the police said the representatives of Panda put their sides with supportive documents.
Panda was noticed to reappear on September 24 for further interrogation, said police to the reporters.
Puri Sadar SDPO Sunil Mishra and IIC Sadar Gauranga Prusty conducted the interrogations.
“We have fully cooperated with the police and submitted the supportive documents,” said Panda’s lawyer Suvendu Mahapatra, after coming out of the room. He informed that his client had never flouted laws while taking flight as he had maintained all the guidelines of Chilika.
On a Facebook message on Wednesday, Panda charged that the Government has brought false allegations against him. Panda said the Government authority first changed the aeroplane to a helicopter in the FIR and cited timing of landing in Chilika at 1.30 pm, which is completely untrue.
Panda claimed he had already returned to airport by 1.26 pm which is in the record of the port authority. He clarified that he had never breached any guideline during his flight over Konark and Puri as he was 3 km away from the Sun Temple and the Puri Jagannath Temple.
He further stated that he used to carry some guests in his helicopter to some tourist places of Odisha. Panda said he was not present during the comments made against the Sun Temple and the Jagannath Temple, Puri by his guest Abhijit Iyer Mitra. Mitra should not have made such comments on the sensitive matters, Panda told.