BHUBANESWAR: One of the hallmarks of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had been his strident stand against people’s representatives and public servants with questionable integrity. In first decade of his tenure as CM of Odisha, he sacked over 30 ministers at the slightest hint of corruption or wrongdoing, and never so much as looked back at them. Some of them – only a few – managed to return but most have wallowed in political wilderness and forgotten.
That was in another time. And, times do change. He now has two ministers in the thick of controversy but there has not even been a word from him. Earlier this year, Law Minister Pratap Jena was accused of involvement in the murder of two BJP leaders in his constituency Mahanga. So much so that the chargesheet filed by police without naming him was dumped by the magistrate who has ordered a fresh investigation into the case. Jena continues to be a Cabinet Minister.
In the last few days, Minister of State for Home, the department which the CM himself holds, Dibya Shankar Mishra has come under shadow over the gruesome murder of a lady teacher Mamita Meher at Kalahandi district’s Mahaling. The teacher was strangulated to death by a contractor Gobinda Sahu, alleged to be very close to Mishra, her body chopped off and buried in the under-construction stadium behind a government high school at Mahaling. The alleged killer Gobinda had set up multiple educational institutions where Mishra was a frequent guest. There is serious conflict of interest in view of the MoS Home’s association with the key accused Gobinda.
But, what’s baffling is Naveen’s lack of any action against Mishra. That too, in a case that relates to heinous crime against women while, women’s empowerment, uplift, safety and security has been Naveen’s foremost slogan from the beginning. Professing “zero tolerance to crime against women”, Naveen has been on the forefront of many landmark initiatives for women’s empowerment including their proportionate representation in legislature.
Not long ago, the late Pradeep Maharathy had to resign from the Cabinet twice - once when he was accused of sheltering the accused in the Pipili rape and murder case, and again in 2018, for making an insensitive statement when the accused were acquitted.
Mamita’s murder has shaken Odisha but the silence of Naveen on such a serious issue has become all the more deafening. Is it the fear of acknowledgement of guilt and resultant harm to image ahead of rural polls early next year or his government has decided to brazen it out and let the issue die an usual death in a few days as part of a game-plan? Whatever it may be, the change in the BJD supremo’s politics is too glaring to miss. And, it is rubbing off on the entire governance system, including police.
Mamita went missing on October 8. Family members went to Kegaon police station of Kalahandi only to be turned away. Four days later on October 13, the case was finally registered at Sindhikela police station in Balangir. Balangir police dragged its feet for next three days and picked up Gobinda on October 15.
He remained in police custody but did not spill a word. He allegedly fled Titlagarh police barracks on October 17 night. The next day, as the controversy snowballed, police suddenly found its feet and discovered the spot where Mamita may have been buried. Bodily remains were found and within hours Gobinda was arrested and even confessed to the crime immediately.
Everything became so simple. The police had failed to break Gobinda during three days of his detention, but accepted all his claims of killing, motive of ‘extra-marital affair’ expose and chain of events in disposal of the body immediately after his arrest. Moreover, the coincidence factor is weighing too much in the case. After, the accused ‘escaped’ from the barracks, police was tipped off about the burial place and started digging. Then, he was immediately arrested from a sugarcane field.
According to experts, there are too many lapses. Gobinda has perfectly detached himself from the crime. In such murder investigations, police use accused’s confession and allow him/her to lead to the crime scene as well as weapons of offence. In the process, crucial evidence is secured and the perpetrator is tied to the crime. Here, it is gone. Everything that he told police is inadmissible in the court. There is not a single eyewitness in the case yet.
At the end, it is a story of eroding public distrust in the system. The only person who could restore is the CM himself. Will he?