A day after an objectionable video clip purportedly featuring Bhubaneswar Mayor Anant Narayan Jena and two others went viral on social media, the Congress and BJP on Friday stepped up demand for a high-level independent probe to ascertain the truth.
Reacting to the daylong activities by different political parties over the issue, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee ( OPCC ) Prasad Harichadan said, “We want the CBI to probe into the matter for a free and fair investigation.” As the Mayor claims he is not the person in the video clip which also has links with the alleged murder of an engineering student, the investigation should be conducted by an independent agency to ascertain the truth, he said. The demand for a CBI probe into the matter was also raised by Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati.
BJP vice-president Sameer Mohanty demanded a high-level probe into the entire incident. Police should make details of the post-mortem report and final report in the case relating to the unnatural death of the engineering student public, he said and demanded that the case should be reinvestigated by police. Mohanty also demanded that the video clip should be sent to the forensic laboratory for ascertaining the truth.
As the Mayor is an influential member of the ruling BJD and can influence the probe, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should ask him to step down for a free and fair investigation, Mohanty said. Meanwhile, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) maintained that it is waiting for the police investigation into the case to be over. “The Mayor has filed an FIR and defamation suit against those who raised such allegations against him. Let the investigation be completed,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said.