The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police, which is investigating the killing of former Umerkote MLA Jagabandhu Majhi, is all set to re-examine the deceased leader’s mother.
She has sparked off a political controversy and given a new twist to the incident by stating that sitting MLA Subash Gond had a hand in the murder.
Gourimani Majhi, who alleged that Gond, once an aide of Jagabandhu, is behind the murder, formally submitted a written complaint in Umerkote Police Station on Thursday night.
A diary entry no. 660/August 30, 2012, has been made and the Nabarangpur SP intimated the matter to CB on Friday.
The allegations came at a time when the CB has already made substantial progress in the case and established the Naxal angle behind the murder.
The CB had identified Maoist leaders of neighbouring Chhattisgarh - Jane Salem and Satyam Ghabede - as the masterminds behind the killing that occurred on September 24 last year. Jagabandhu and his personal security officer PK Patro were killed in the attack.
The Judicial Magistrate First Class at Umerkote had also issued non-bailable warrants against the duo basing on the investigation.
Salem headed outlawed CPI (Maoist)’s Mainpur Division, while Ghabede is the area commander of Satinadi Committee which covers Raighar block. The CB also has secured interviews of Salem to a section of media in which he had owned up for the MLA’s killing and spelt out the reasons.
While the accusations are unlikely to make any impact on the investigation, sources said the CB has decided to keep the record straight by sending the investigating officer to examine Gourimani.
“During the investigation process, she was examined, but she did not mention about this angle.
Now that it has cropped up, we would like to re-examine her views,” said sources.
Since the complaint was written by someone else and Gourimani had put her thumb impression, the CB will examine if the contents were read out and explained to her as is necessary by law. In the complaint, Gond and another person by the name K Buji Rao have been named apart from others. The CB will also track down Rao.