BHUBANESWAR: Police today interrogated Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA and former minister Arabinda Dhali on a complaint lodged by a woman claiming to be his daughter. Twentyfour-year-old Sanjita, a mother of two, had filed an FIR at the Mahila police station here claiming to be daughter of Dhali from his first wife and demanded a DNA test while the former minister denied her claim as baseless. In the FIR, she also alleged that Dhali got her married off to his driver Rajiv Majumdar when she was a minor. Meanwhile, four-time MLA Dhali is reported to have told the police that he did not have any daughter by the name of Sanjita and the allegation against him was politically motivated.
I have even produced court documents which said that Sanjita’s father was someone else though her mother was my first wife Kamala Dhali, he told reporters. On allegation that Dhali’s second wife Manju and his brother-in-law Uttam Das had tortured Sanjita, he stated that neither did Sanjita ever stay in his house nor his wife knew her. He also denied marrying her off to his driver saying he never had a driver named Rajib Majumdar.
When the investigating officer wanted clarification on Sanjita’s school leaving certificate (SLC) where Dhali was mentioned as her father, the former minister said that it was manipulated.
Sanjita along with 25 other women were detained by police today while they attempted to stage a dharna near Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence.
