The presence of a murder accused on the dais during Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD election meeting at Tangi in Khordha district on Friday has raised eyebrows about the ruling party’s links with criminal elements and police inaction.
According to reports, police had arrested three accused in connection with the murder of one Prasanna Nayak, who was killed in a bomb attack at Taladola Dihapur village on March 22 this year, following a dispute over the possession of a cashew orchard. The arrests were made after a complaint was lodged by the deceased’s widow Pramila.
In her complaint, Pramila had mentioned the name of 15 persons including the prime accused Prakash Samantray, husband of BJD member of the Khordha Zila Parishad Zone-2 Swarnalata Samantray. She had also alleged that the police were trying to cover up the matter because of Samantray’s links with the BJD.
While the police had failed to arrest Prakash all these days, he was seen with the Chief Minister and party candidate for Khordha Rajendra Sahu on the podium during the public meeting on Friday. Surprisingly, the police, which had earlier said that the prime accused Samantray was an absconder, did not make any attempt to arrest him from the meeting place.