Bijepur Bypoll: Padampur SDPO Transferred On Poll Monitor’s Order

Bhubaneswar: A day before the byelection to the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district, the Odisha Police on Thursday transferred the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Padampur, Laxmi Narayan Panda.

“The transfer of Laxmi Narayan Panda has been made by the order of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO),” Director General of Police (DGP) R P Sharma told mediapersons here.

While the outgoing SDPO has been posted at the office of the IG, Northern Range, in Sambalpur, Railway Officer of Jharsuguda, Khirasagar Nayak, has been posted as SDPO, Padampur, Sharma added.

Panda had landed in trouble after the BJP accused him of being partisan and demanded his removal. The BJP had questioned as to how could Panda without carrying out any investigation know that Rs 40.50 lakh seized from a vehicle at Mahulipali on Padampur-Bijepur road on February 17 from one Akash Agarwal was meant for BJP’s election expenses. The saffron party accused Panda of being a BJD agent and met the CEO seeking immediate action against him.

On February 10, Yamini Sarangi and J N Pankaj replaced Khagendra Kumar Padhi and Jugal Banoth as Bargarh collector and SP respectively following a directive of the Election Commission.