Giving a new twist to the ongoing speculations about the alleged links of the mafia Dhalsamant brothers with several influential persons in society, retired police officer and former MP Anadi Sahu on Saturday came out with startling statements linking the brothers with several political leaders and a retired DGP.
Addressing a section of media in his house under the banner of Progressive Thinkers’ Forum, Sahu made unsubstantiated allegations, saying the Dhalsamant brothers were given political patronage by several political leaders and the recently-retired DGP Sanjeev Marik.
Naming political leaders of BJD, BJP and Congress, Sahu said the leaders were helping the brothers to spread their mafia raj across the State. Starting from Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former Minister Sameer Dey, both BJP, Congress leader Bhakta Das, BJD MlAs Debashis Samantray, Pravat Tripathy, Pramod Mallick and Pratap Jena, Sahu said all these leaders were helping the brothers in quid pro quo.
He even alleged that Marik had taken over `2 crore from the brothers in exchange of giving them police protection.
Soon after Sahu’s statements were telecast in TV channels, many political leaders and Marik denied the allegations levelled by Sahu and threatened to drag him to court on defamatory cases.
Meanwhile, in yet another setback to the Commissionerate Police, the arrested Dhalsamant brothers on Saturday told a court here that they are not willing to give their voice samples as sought by the investigating police officer.
Apprehending that the police may “misuse” the voice samples, the brothers, who had also refused to undergo polygraph test as was wanted by the IO, declined to oblige the police.
“My clients have declined to give their voice samples when they were produced before the court of SDJM today,” said the brothers’ advocate Soura Chandra Mohapatra, adding that the prosecution at the investigation stage cannot compel an accused to give his voice sample as per Section 73 of the Evidence Act-1872.
“There is no such specific provision in the Act to deal with taking of voice samples. If investigation is completed and charges have been framed, the court may allow voice samples to be collected provided the same is taken only for the purpose of identification and does not contain inculpate statement,” Mohapatra added.
On the other hand, upping the ante against the antisocial elements, the city police on the day raided the hideouts of two more hardcore criminals. According to city DCP Sanjeev Arora, the houses of Juga Prasad Kanungo alias Juga and Pramod Patra alias Bhuan were raided separately.
While both the mafia dons are now being grilled at two separate police stations, house searches are continuing till this report was filed. Sources said police have seized unspecified amounts of cash, an airgun, some vehicles and few incriminating documents from their houses.