A day after former Union Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy told reporters in New Delhi that Odisha’s ruling party BJD had transferred Rs45 lakh from its bank account to Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s ICICI Bank account at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district, Panda on Wednesday denied of having any such bank account and of receiving any such amount from the BJD.
“I haven’t received Rs45 lakh in my account from any BJD account. I do not have any account in ICICI Bank. I have one bank account in the care of Brahmapur jail superintendent. How could he (Tripathy) know that Rs45 lakh was transferred to my accountIJ”
wondered Panda while answering questions of reporters at Paralakhemundi.
He told this to the media while being taken to the District and Sessions Judge Court for production in a case.
Meanwhile, Sabyasachi Panda cited by former Tripathy has turned out to be a different person and not the Maoist leader currently in jail.
The Chhatrapur police revealed that the account number cited by Tripathy belongs to a person of the same name, who is a resident of Chhatrapur.
“The account holder’s name provided by Tripathy is in the same name, but his father’s name is Chhitaranjan Panda. He is a resident of Chhatrapur. There is a balance of Rs1,174 in the account,” said Chhatrapur IIC.
Tripathy had stated before reporters that on April 10, 2014, Rs45 lakh was transferred from the BJD’s bank account to Panda’s bank account Chattrapur-based ICICi bank account bearing number 10091755246. The BJD had immediately refuted the charges.
Tripathy had further alleged that Rs1.5 lakh was transferred from Sabyasachi Panda’s bank account to the bank account of a relative of Higher Education Minister Pradip Kumar Panigrahi.
Refuting the allegation Panigrahi on Wednesday challenged Tripathy if he was prepared “to go to jail” on being proved wrong.
“If the allegation is proved, I will resign from my Minister’s post. Will Brajababu go to jail if his allegation is proved wrongIJ This allegation is nothing but sheer madness on the part of Brajababu,” stated Panigrahi.