Odisha ZP Member Death: Trouble Mounts For Samir Dash, BJP To Burn 100 Effigies Tomorrow [Watch]

Bhubaneswar: Trouble seems to be mounting for Nimapara MLA and School and Mass Education Minister of Odisha Samir Ranjan Dash, whom opposition BJP and Congress have blamed for the alleged death by suicide of Zilla Parisad (ZP) member Dharmendra Sahoo and demanded that they be brought under the purview of investigation.

While a team of Commissionerate Police led by an additional DCP on Friday visited Shaoo’s residence at Susupalgarh in Bhubaneswar for questioning his wife and other family members, hundreds of women activists led by BJP Mahila state president Smruti Patnaik took out a rally to the district collector’s office and handed over a memorandum, demanding an unbiased probe into the Gop ZP member’s death this morning.

They reportedly expressed resentment over the non-inclusion of Dash in the investigation process even after a purported telephonic conversation between Sahoo and a journalist Akshay Nayak, who was earlier questioned by police, went viral. The ZP member named Minister Dash and some other people for having ruined his life in the alleged audio clip. Sahoo told the journalist that he would kill himself and that the minister, among others, should be held responsible for it.

Also Read: Odisha ZP Member Death: Police Grills Journalist Over Viral Audio Clip

Later at a presser, former BJP Mahila State president Pravati Parida demanded that Dash should be ousted from the council of ministers in view of his complicity in the suicidal death of Sahoo. “The BJP would burn 100 effigies of the minister at different places in Nimapada on Saturday to press for his ouster and legal action against him,” she added.

The BJP had earlier held the minister responsible for Sahoo’s marital discord.

Amid these allegations, the ruling BJD dropped Dash from the list of district observers released on Saturday.

Also Read: Samir Dash Fails To Make It To BJD District Observers’ List

The Commissionerate Police had earlier sent two mobile phones, a smartwatch and the hard disk of CCTV installed at his residence for forensic tests. Hours before allegedly ending his life, Sahoo had uploaded a video on his social media account requesting the police to examine the contents of his mobile phones. Sahoo was under immense mental stress over ‘false’ reports published in local media. It is also suspected that he might have sent messages to somebody through the watch before his death.