Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena on Friday filed a defamation suit and criminal case against National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) (Student Congress) State president Itish Pradhan and proprietor of niankhunta.com Pradip Pandey in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court here in connection with the controversial sex video uploaded in the website purportedly featuring the Mayor.
Jena also urged the court to impose a ban on the broadcasting of the video.
“I have filed of Rs 1-crore defamation suit against the two. Pradip Pandey has a practice of defaming people. I expect that justice will be done and strong action will be taken against those who have tried to malign my image,” Jena said.
In another development, the Capital police acting on an FIR filed by Jena late on Thursday night served notice to Pradhan and Pandey to depose before it.
Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said police have written to YouTube to delete the video in question. The police would seek forensic experts’ help to study the video.
On Thursday, Itish Pradhan demanded Jena’s resignation at a Press conference here claiming that the video features Jena in a sexual act with a woman. He further alleged Jena’s involvement in the murder of Rishi, a student of a Bhubaneswar-based private engineering college and also an active member of the Student Congress.
However, both Jena and family members of Rishi have dismissed the allegations as baseless and concocted.
“We suspect that my son was murdered. But the Mayor is not involved in the case. We have family relations with the Mayor,” said Rishi’s mother.
Even as the Mayor dismissed the charges, BJP activists on the day staged a dharna in front of the Commissionerate police headquarters and blocked the road at Power Square demanding Jena’s arrest and resignation and a probe into the death of Rishi.
During their attempt to march towards the police headquarters, some BJP activists had a scuffle with the cops. later, a team of BJP delegates met Commissioner of Police YB Khurania and submitted a memorandum and the sex tape to him.
“I have sent the memorandum to the Bhubaneswar DCP for necessary action,” said Khurania.
BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra alleged that though police knew who were involved in the murder of Rishi, they were trying to protect the culprits.
In yet another development, students of the Rama Devi Women’s University expressed their solidarity with the Mayor and staged a road blockade demanding arrest of Itish Pradhan.
Niankhunta.com proprietor Pradip Pandey said he welcomes the notice served to him and said he would tell the police and the court what he wants to say.
“I never said that the Mayor is in the video. I only said the presence of an influential person in the video. But the Mayor’s reaction seems to be very childish. It is the duty of the police to find out the person in the video,” said Pandey.