BALANGIR: A statue of former chief minister Biju Patnaik was set on fire at Patnagarh triggering a political controversy on Tuesday.
The incident occurred around 6 am, with the statue located near Parshuram Chhak, installed by former Patnagarh MLA Saroj Kumar Meher.
Upon receiving the information, Patnagarh police arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire. They detained a person, Jugal Kishore Sahu, a resident of Batharla village, in connection with the incident.
Patnagarh SDPO Sadanand Pujari told mediapersons that the entire incident was caught on CCTV camera. “Sahu is alleged to have done this but he is mentally unsound. The investigation, so far, has found no political link behind the incident. Probe is on,” he added.
Meanwhile, the issue took a political turn with the Biju Janata Dal strongly condemning the incident. Former MLA Sanjay Das Burma said incidence of disrespect to Biju Patnaik has been on the rise under the BJP government.
The BJD called for the immediate arrest of the culprits and strict punishment. The regional party announced plans to hold a dharna under the statue of Biju Patnaik near Bhubaneswar Airport in the evening.
The statue of the legendary leader at the site was long embroiled in controversy.
While Meher had installed the image when he was MLA, it was opposed by the Brahmin Samaj which had demanded that a statue of Parshuram be put up at the spot.
At the time of installation, executive officer of Patnagarh NAC had gone on record stating that it was not installed by the civic body.
Members of Brahmin Samaj had staged dharna for around a month and a series of bandh was staged during that period. The matter later reached the Orissa High Court which had ordered covering of the statue in a polythene sheet.