Top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s arrest was a stage-managed drama,” said BJP State president KV Singh Deo while addressing a Press here on Thursday and criticised the State Government and the police for boasting of the arrest as their great success.
Singh Deo raised doubts over whether Panda was arrested or it was a case of simple surrender. Panda was not arrested on the date as the police claimed. He alleged that the arrest was an attempt to divert public attention from the scams which put the Government in a tight corner in the Assembly.
“The ruling party has been using such tactics since 2009. Entry of a snake into the Assembly, abduction of former Malkangiri Collector Vineel Krishna and now Panda’s arrest are the events that happened during the Assembly sessions. The Government has a direct link with the Maoists and has been creating plots to divert attention of people from the core issues when the party is in trouble,” said Singh Deo.
He said the “nexus” between Maoists and some Ministers of the State needs to be probed thoroughly by a Central agency as the Odisha police cannot take the investigation process relating to Panda to a logical end due to heavy pressure from the ruling BJD. The Brahmapur police’s protest against the presence of Panda’s lawyer or kin during his interrogation clearly showed the police fear that any leakage of information regarding the nexus might come to the fore, he added.
Singh Deo said Panda’s criminal activities including abduction of Italian nationals and killing of VHP leader Swami laxamanananda Saraswati that resulted in communal riots had drawn international attention. “This is a right case which needs to be probed by a national agency,” he said, adding, “I’ll write to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on behalf of the State BJP to look into the matter.”