BERHAMPUR: Ganjam District Sessions Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on revision petition filed by prosecution on Berhampur SDJM’s order that allowed presence of lawyer, family members or friends of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda during his police interrogation, till Thursday.
The hearing was deferred following cease work by the Ganjam Bar Association (GBA) over alleged assault of a lawyer by police at Bhubaneswar.
Interrogation of Sabyasachi continued for the fourth day in the office of Berhampur SP. His counsel, Deepak Patnaik, said until 4 pm he was not asked by the police to be present during the quizzing. Police informed that Sabyasachi did not divulge much during the interrogation. Police are also examining the pen drives, two hard drives and a diary seized from Sabyasachi’s hide-out.
Sabyasachi was removed from CPI(ML) in 2012 after which he formed Odisha Maobadi Party (OMP). In June last year, Sabyasachi started an outfit CPI(Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) and issued releases in his old name, Sunil. Though police are yet to ascertain since when Sabyasachi was staying here, circumstantial evidences pointed out that he was in the city to recruit fresh cadres as well as collect donation for his new organisation.
Meanwhile, letters supporting as well as opposing the Maoist leader reached mediapersons in Berhampur and Rayagada. A letter, reportedly from the central committee of CPI(MLM), signed by Shekhar, condemns the arrest of Sabyasachi as a cowardly act. Another letter of CPI(Maoist), Odisha unit, described the arrest as a drama. The letter was signed by Ajay, spokesperson of Andhra-Odisha Border Special Personal Committee.