BHUBANESWAR: The State BJP on Friday sought intervention of Governor SC Jamir for an impartial probe into the sex video allegedly featuring Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and the death of an engineering student.
A 14-member delegation of the BJP, led by State president Basant Panda, met the Governor at Raj Bhavan here.
“We urge you to intervene and ensure removal of the Mayor of Bhubaneswar city for an impartial and transparent probe into the objectionable video allegedly linked to the death of an engineering student,” the memorandum submitted by BJP to the Governor stated.
Panda said, “We have drawn attention of the Governor to the inaction of the State Government on the cold blooded murder of an engineering student, which is directly linked to the objectionable video.”
The BJP alleged that there were allegations that the engineering student, who was in possession of the video, was murdered in a planned manner. Despite evidence that the death of the engineering student was not unnatural and it was a murder, the police had closed the case to protect persons very close to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the memorandum said.
After the objectionable video came to the fore, police re-opened the case but the investigation is not proceeding in a proper manner, it said and demanded that the link between the video and the ‘planned murder’ must be investigated and the guilty should be punished.
“We are apprehensive about a proper investigation as the case involves a person with capacity to influence the probe due to his closeness with the Chief Minister and the Government,” the BJP said.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra demanded that police should quiz the second person in the video to bring out the truth.
Earlier in the week, the party had organised a Bhubaneswar bandh, a two-hour ‘chakka jam’ across the State and demonstration before the DGP’s office in Cuttack demanding ouster of the Mayor.
On the other hand, Congress continued its dharna in front of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office demanding the Mayor’s resignation. “The police cannot undertake an impartial probe into the matter till the Mayor continues in his post. Therefore, we demand a CBI probe,” State Congress chief Prasad Harichandan said.