BHUBANESWAR: Upping the ante against the ruling BJD on Kunduli gang rape incident, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday demanded resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the State Government’s failure to provide justice to the victim who committed suicide.
Accusing the Government of trying to cover up the incident which triggered a massive outrage across the State, the Union Minister said attempts are being made to distort fact and damage crucial evidences in the case.
“It is believed that the Kunduli victim had written a suicide note explaining her ordeal in detail. The suicide note of the victim is a vital piece of document to reach to the culprits. Police officers investigating the case seem to have destroyed the note to hide the culprits,” Pradhan told a media conference here. Asking the State Government to explain about the whereabouts of the suicide note, Pradhan sought to know why the investigation is silent on the alleged offer of `90,000 in cash to the victim by the Director General of Police (DGP) to buy her silence. The minor girl has made this accusation against the DGP in the media and everybody knows it, he said.
Dubbing the judicial probe as a farce, Pradhan said the outcome of the probe will be nothing. It will go the same way as other judicial probes ordered by the Government into the Kalinganagar firing, Laxmanananda murder and chit fund cases. The Kunduli incident is not a political issue and people of the State have voiced their protest by supporting the bandh call given his party. What is baffling is that the Chief Minister is yet to review the case, he said. “The Chief Minister should resign on moral ground as his Government has failed to give justice to the minor tribal girl even after 100 days of the incident,” Pradhan said.
Reiterating his demand for a CBI probe into the incident, Pradhan said if the State Government has no confidence in the central investigating agency it should either go for a court monitored investigation by a special investigation team (SIT). With the BJD pointing finger at the central paramilitary personnel, Pradhan said investigation into the incident is a state subject and action should be taken against those who committed the crime irrespective their status of employment.