BHUBANESWAR: The city police on Sunday night sealed the office of regional news channel Focus Plus over its editor-in-chief Sudhansu Sekhar Rout’s alleged defamatory remarks and bribery claims against School and Mass Education minister Nityananda Gond.
Police said Rout is currently absconding. The cops, meanwhile, arrested the organisation’s operational manager Sukanta Kumar Nayak (29) and reporter Saroj Rath (32) on charges of assisting Rout in evading arrest.
Gond’s officer on special duty (OSD) Ashish Kumar Bhoi had lodged a complaint with Capital police stating that Rout had levelled baseless allegations against the minister during a programme on his channel on July 12. As per Bhoi’s complaint, Rout reportedly made false claims that Gond had offered him bribe to suppress reports regarding alleged errors in school textbooks.
He further alleged that Rout uploaded and circulated the same video on Facebook and other social media platforms to defame Gond, mislead the public and create a sense of distrust towards the government. Gond has outrightly denied the allegations against him.
On receiving the complainant, Capital police registered a case against Rout on July 14 under various sections of the BNS. As part of the probe, the investigating officer of the case examined witnesses, collected digital and documentary evidence and initiated verification of the viral video and other electronic records, said police.
On Sunday night, a police team raided Focus Plus office and arrested Nayak and Rath from the spot. Police said, as electronic evidence was crucial, the Focus Plus office was sealed as per the law. All relevant electronic devices such as computers, storage media and other digital equipment were seized for forensic examination and further investigation.
Rout had earlier been booked by different police stations in six cases for committing various offences. Of them, charge sheet has been filed against him in four cases. “Efforts are on to nab him in the recent case for making defamatory remarks against the minister,” said police.
Trouble further mounted for Rout after the director of a real estate firm, Samina Behera, lodged a complaint in Chandrasekharpur police station on Monday alleging he was running defamatory content on his channel against their firm after she and her husband Sharat Sahu refused to invest `2 crore in his organisation.