Pradhan targets Odisha CM over worsening law and order situation in state
BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday came down heavily on the state government over the deteriorating law and order situation and the silence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the murder of former minister Naba Kishore Das.
Expressing concern over the statement of the director general of police Sunil Bansal, who said “except Lord Jagannath, no human being would ever have imagined that such an incident (minister’s murder) would happen”, Pradhan said it not only surprised the people but shows how efficient is the police intelligence.
Terming the DGP’s statement unfortunate, the minister said the silence of the CM who holds the Home portfolio is more baffling. Raising questions on the transparency in the ongoing investigation, Pradhan said while the police is clueless about the motive of the murder even after eight days of the incident, there is no clarity on the role of the retired high court judge who has been assigned to monitor the investigation.
The Crime Branch of police has lost credibility and people of the state feel that the ongoing investigation is not going in the right direction. The government should not hesitate to hand over the case to a third party preferably the CBI, Pradhan said.
Asserting that violence has no place in a democracy, he said there is complete lawlessness in the state and situation is turning from bad to worse day by day. The attack on a sub-collector and his driver in Balasore district by sand mafias is another case in point, Pradhan added.
“After these incidents, people are now questioning as to who is actually running the government in the state,” he remarked.