BHUBANESWAR: Amid protests by the Opposition over the Mamita Meher murder case, the ruling BJD on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to bail out main accused Gobinda Sahu by engaging a party member who is also a lawyer to argue his case in the court.
BJD spokesperson and MLA Pratap Deb said Mohan Lal Sharma, a well-known BJP leader of Kantabanji, is appearing for Sahu at the court of Additional District Judge and this has exposed the double standards of the party. “The BJP is shedding crocodile tears for Mamita Meher and it has become clear from the fact that Sharma is an active party member and participated in BJP’s Jana Sampark Yatra and other programmes in the area. Besides, he was also in the race for a BJP ticket for Kantabanji Assembly constituency in the 2019 polls,” he said.
Stating that BJP has so far failed to show any evidence of Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra’s involvement in the case, Deb said the party is trying its best to save the main accused. “The BJP had indulged in such cheap politics in the Nayagarh Pari case even after the High Court expressed satisfaction over the SIT probe into the incident,” he said.
Rubbishing the ruling party’s claim, BJP legislator Mukesh Mahaling alleged that the BJD has now scripted a new story to protect the main accused in the case. Stating that Sharma does not hold any post in BJP, Mahaling alleged that according to local gossip Mishra and Deb have persuaded him to fight the case for Gobinda by promising that he will be made a government lawyer.
He alleged that Sharma and the two BJD leaders’ association is old. “Both have now hatched this story fearing they will be exposed,” the legislator said and added Mishra and Deb had even tried to get a BJD ticket for Sharma in the 2019 Assembly election. “Gobind was the mediator of Sharma in this,” he claimed. Alleging that Naveen is trying to protect his junior through Deb, Mahaling said he was present on the day when the former met Sahu at Naveen Nivas.