Abhijit Iyer Mitra Submits Affidavit To House Committee

Bhubaneswar: Research scholar Abhijit Iyer Mitra appeared again before the House Committee of the State Assembly on Saturday and submitted an affidavit, pertaining to his alleged anti-Odisha remarks.

He was earlier arrested by the Odisha police for his derogatory remarks on Odisha, the Sun Temple, Lord Jagannath and the legislators of the State Assembly.

Abhijit was accompanied by his counsel Nikhil Mehera.

Talking to mediapersons, chairperson of the House Committee Narasingha Mishra said the Committee will review Abhijit’s statement and his affidavit. “He may be summoned again for further clarification if need be. As per the direction of the Speaker, the Committee will submit its report on the opening day of the winter session of the State Assembly,” he added.

The research scholar had appeared before the House Committee on Friday. Since he failed to submit the affidavit, the Committee had allowed him a day more.

On October 23, the House Committee had asked the Abhijit to submit the affidavit on November 2. On the same day, the Saheed Nagar police had arrested him and produced in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days after rejecting his bail petition. He was then sent to the Jharpada jail.

On October 25, the Konark Police took Abhijit on a four-day remand to interrogate him over his derogatory remarks against Sun Temple and about his aerial tour to Konark.