BHUBANESWAR: With panchayat elections round the corner, the BJP on Tuesday raked up the Mamita Meher murder case by taking out rallies and staging demonstrations across the State to score political points.BJP workers including women marched towards the Chief Minister’s residence Naveen Nivas from Raj Mahal square to protest on the issue. They raised slogans against the government for its failure in arresting key suspects of the case including Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra, a close associate of prime accused Gobinda Sahu.
The party workers scuffled with the police near Sishu Bhawan chhak when they tried to break the barricade and head towards Naveen Nivas to gherao the Chief Minister. Tension prevailed at the spot for some time and a woman activist fainted during the demonstration. She was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital by the police.
Coming down heavily on the State government for shielding the Minister and a few other high profile persons who were frequenting the school where Mamita was the principal in-charge, BJP State general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar said that it is a matter of shame that the police has not submitted the chargesheet even after 120 days of the incident. She further alleged that instead of taking action against the accused, the government is trying to suppress the Opposition voice by using police force. “The State government is the major obstacle in the way of delivery of justice to the victim’s family,” she said.
The police detained several leaders of the BJP including Samantsinghar, Bhubaneswar district BJP president Babu Singh. Mamita, a resident of Jharni village under Turekela block of Balangir district who worked as a teacher at the Sunshine English Medium School at Mahaling in Kalahandi district, had gone missing on October 8, 2021. The dead body was exhumed from the school ground on October 19.