Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday came down heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for “keeping mum” on the broad daylight murder of Minister Naba Kisore Das.
Addressing the Press here, Pradhan alleged that the basic approach of the State Government to get the murder probed for establishment of the motive behind the crime is erroneous and smacks of an attempt to cover up the failure of the administration in protecting the life of the Minister.
“The Crime Branch of the State police is investigating the case. The appointment of a retired Judge of the High Court of Orissa has not been as per the Inquiry Commission Act, 1952 and his rights have not been clearly defined as well," he said.
Pradhan also termed as “unfortunate” DGP Sunil Bansal's statement that Naba Das' murder was one-of-its-kind incidents and only Lord Jagannath could have known it.
“Unfortunately, nobody in the Odisha Government has any answer why ASI of Police Gopal Das shot the Minister dead. This speaks volumes about the law and order situation in the State,” said he.
Stating that Odisha has plunged into a state of lawlessness, Pradhan said people are in doubt as to who is actually running the State.
“In three sensitive cases, Mahanaga double murder case, Ananda Toppo case and a girl's allegations against BJD MLA Bijay Shankar Das, the High Court had to intervene and direct investigation and register the complaints. Such incidents clearly suggest that law and order in Odisha has failed. The Chief Minister needs to take up responsibility and respect the people's mandate. You (ruling BJD) have only been given responsibility and not the authority to treat it as your property," said Pradhan.
If such incidents could happen to a high-profile Cabinet Minister or the Baleswar Sub-Collector, one can imagine what could be the condition of a common man, wondered he.
Pradhan observed that since the law enforcement agencies are not discharging their prime role well, there should be an independent inquiry by a third party agency into the Minister’s murder. He, however, did not mention which third party agency he was referring to.
Responding to the allegations of Pradhan, BJD leader Sashi Bhusan Behera said, "Whenever such an incident happens, the State Government takes appropriate action; and in this case also, there has been no negligence as far as investigation is concerned. The Government is also alert to the situation and efforts are on to ensure that such incidents do not recur."