Congress Odisha In-Charge Ajoy Kumar Questions Timing Of FIR Ahead Of Jharkhand Polls

Bhubaneswar: Congress Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar has questioned the timing of the case registered against him at Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar ahead of Jharkhand elections.

“According to the complainant this incident allegedly took place on June 20, but the FIR was lodged on October 12. Somebody must have advised him to approach the court to put me in trouble,” he told a national daily, while terming it as a political conspiracy.

A former MP and Jharkhand PCC president, Kumar is likely to contest the upcoming polls from Jamshedpur East Assembly constituency.

“Bharatpur police did not lodge a complaint when he first approached some months back since the complainant has no document or signature to prove the deal,” he claimed.

He, along with former president of OPCC Sarat Pattanayak and senior leader Biswaranjan Mohanty, has been booked by police under Sections 120-B, 420, 506, and 34 of the IPC for allegedly defrauding a businessman to the tune of around Rs 1.4 crore. Ashutosh Mohapatra, the complainant, alleged that the trio refused to pay his dues for providing vehicles and LED TVs for the party’s campaign in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha. While the deal was finalised at Rs 1.5 crore, he had received an advance of Rs 8 lakh for fuel and related expenses.

While Bharatpur police did not register a case on basis of his FIR, he approached the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Bhubaneswar for intervention. Following the directive of the JMFC court, the Bharatpur police has lodged a case in this matter.

Earlier speaking to the media, Pattanayak said he as the then OPCC president had not entered into any agreement with any person. He further said that he had no idea about funds which were directly handled by Kumar and the AICC.