Police on Wednesday arrested Cuttack Municipal Corporation’s ruling BJD Corporator Ranjeeta Biswal for her alleged link with jailed mafia don brothers Sushil and Susant Dhalasamant (D brothers). Police said the journalist-turned-politician on instructions from the mafia brothers from jail had supplied arms and ammunitions to contract killers to eliminate four persons, including contractors, who had refused to pay extortion money to the brothers.
“Our investigations revealed that Ranjeeta Biswal maintained close contacts with the mafia brothers and met them regularly in jail. She had supplied three mousers and 60 rounds of ammunition to one Mrutyunjay Nayak, who was arrested by the police last Sunday for firing at contractor Bijay Pal at his house in Subhadrapur under the Cuttack Sadar police station,” said city DCP Akhileshwar Singh, adding that two pistols and 29 ammunitions were recovered from Nayak’s possession.
Soon after Biswal was arrested, the BJD suspended her from primary membership of the party. Prior to her election to the council of the city civic body on a BJD ticket in 2014, Biswal, an MA in journalism and mass communication, was working as a city reporter of an Odia daily.
She was arrested along with one Sarat Behera under Section 307 of IPC as conspirators and abettors of crime, police said, adding that both were forwarded to court.