BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the Jharkhand elections, Congress leader from the state and AICC’s Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar has found himself in trouble, as he, along with former president of OPCC Sarat Pattanayak and senior leader Biswaranjan Mohanty, has been booked by police for allegedly defrauding a businessman to the tune of around Rs 1.4 crore.
The businessman, Asutosh Mohapatra of Bhubaneswar, lodged a complaint stating that the trio was refusing to pay his dues for providing vehicles and LED TVs for the party’s campaign in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. Police have filed a case against them under Sections 120-B, 420, 506, and 34 of the IPC.
Mohapatra alleged that a deal of Rs 1.5 crore was finalized for providing campaign services after discussions with Kumar and Pattanayak. He was reportedly given an advance of Rs 8 lakh for fuel and related expenses. The Congress leaders assured him that Rs 1.42 crore would be paid to him after the election.
According to the FIR, when Mohapatra met the Congress leaders after the elections to seek payment of his dues, they asked him to meet at their residence where the final amount would be discussed. However, the complainant demanded that the money be paid to him on the spot, as they were not answering his phone calls.
Mohapatra alleged that during this discussion, Kumar and Pattanayak threatened him.
Three Congress leaders booked for cheating
When he persisted with his demand for payment of money, he was allegedly kicked by Mohanty. Mohanty further threatened him with murder, Mohapatra alleged.
After the incident, Mohapatra had filed an FIR at the Bharatpur police station which could not be registered. He then approached the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Bhubaneswar for intervention. Following the directive of the JMFC court, the Bharatpur police has lodged a case in this matter.
Inspector-in-charge Deepak Khandayat Ray said that a case has been filed following direction of the court. Police has launched investigation into the matter, he said.
However, Pattanayak dismissed the allegations as baseless. Pattanayak said he as the then OPCC president had not entered into any agreement with any person. “There was no such agreement,” he said.