A high-level BJP team met former BMC Mayor and BJP leader Shiva Shankar (Pintu) Das at the Brahmapur Circle Jail hereon Friday. The team collected information from him about the alleged highhandedness of the police to harass him by implicating him in false cases at the behest of the ruling party and to settle personal scores.
The ream members included former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda, former Minister Surama Padhi, BJP State spokesperson Sajjan Sharma, Zilla Prabhari Golak Mahapatra, Ganjam district president KC Pati and Mahesh Mohanty.
Former Mayor Das told the team that when he was arrested in a “false case” in 2015 and then released on bail, the police did not inform him about any old case pending against him. But the police are now calling all his old business associates of 2006 to police station and forcing them to file complaints, as a result of which during last one month the police have filed several new “false cases” against him.
Das also said the police are acting at the ruling party’s behest since he left the BJD just before the 2014 elections and joined the BJP.
After meeting Das, Sajjan Sharma told reporters that the BJP is going to prepare a factual report soon to draw the attention of both State and Central Governments to the actions against Das.
Notably, Das was arrested by the Brahmapur police in New Delhi in July and since then in jail. last year, he had been arrested in connection with an alleged attack on a BJD leader and was released on bail. A few months later, he was wanted by the police in connection with a dispute over a stone quarry and subsequently, he managed to flee the city.