BHUBANESWAR: Asan RTI query revealed that no letter of request had been given to the High Court by the Odisha government regarding appointment of a sitting judge to monitor the SIT probe into the Nayagarh minor girl murder case, the State unit of the BJP on Friday targeted the government for misleading the people of the State over the issue. Stating that the Odisha government had announced in the Assembly a court-monitored SIT probe into Nayagarh minor girl murder case which has now been proved false, BJP State general secretary Golak Mohapatra alleged that the BJD is misleading the people of the State.
His party colleague, general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar also demanded that breach of privilege notice should be brought against the minister who had said in the Assembly that the government had written to the High Court for a court monitored SIT to investigate into the case.In his reaction, president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Niranjan Patnaik said if true, it is unfortunate. He said that the party will raise the issue in the next Assembly session.
Meanwhile, the BJD has dismissed the allegations of BJP by stating that the party does not have facts on the Nayagarh minor girl murder case. “High Court has issued orders with regard to the probe. This gives a clear indication that BJP doesn’t have any facts. The party is doing cheap politics and nothing else for its survival,” BJD Spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said. Mohanty said the SIT has submitted three status reports to the High Court, on December 15, December 23 and January 11 and it has expressed satisfaction with the progress of the investigation.
Special secretary in the Home department Santosh Bala in a letter to the Registrar General of the High Court on November 28, had requested the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice with a request to accord permission to monitor the investigation by a sitting judge.
Informing about the formation of the SIT, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha informed the Assembly on the same day that a special probe team has been formed based on the announcement of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in this regard. In his RTI query, Hemant Panda had sought information about the State government’s request to accord permission to appoint a sitting judge to monitor the probe by SIT into the case.