CUTTACK: The Mahanga double murder case took a new turn on Monday with the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Salepur finding a prima facie case against former law minister Pratap Kumar Jena as an accused.
The JMFC said, “Perused the protest petition, statement of complaint and statement of witness and other available materials on record and found prima facie case punishable for the offences under sections 302, 506 and 120B of the IPC is made out against the accused person namely Pratap Kumar Jena.”
The order further stated, “On further perusal of the case record, it is found that the accused namely Pratap Kumar Jena is an MLA of Mahanga constituency. Hence, the case record be transferred to the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge-cum-Special Court, Bhubaneswar for disposal in accordance with law.” The double murder case was registered in connection with the brutal killing of BJP leader Kulamani Baral, who was the block chairman of Mahanga, and his associate Dibyasingha Baral near Jankoti under Mahanga block in Cuttack district on January 2, 2021.
In the case registered at Mahanga police station, 13 persons were named as accused. Later Prafulla Biswal, the prime accused in the case was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Govindpur area at Tangi in Cuttack district.
Initially, deceased Kulamani’s son Ramakant Baral had filed the case. He had also lodged a written complaint alleging the involvement of Jena and filed the petition accusing Mahanga police of dropping the law minister’s name from the chargesheet. He had sought direction to police to file a fresh investigation report by including Jena’s name. Jena’s name was not included for the second time. Subsequently, after Ramakant’s death, his younger brother Ranjit Kumar Baral had filed a protest petition.
Refuting the allegations, Jena said he is prepared for a narco test to establish the truth. He demanded narco test should also be conducted on those who have levelled such allegations against him. Dismissing the charges as false and politically motivated, Jena said it is a conspiracy against him. “Some people who are not able to tolerate the development of Mahanga, have hatched a conspiracy against me,” he added.