Mahanga Double Murder: Court Orders Fresh Probe Into Alleged Involvement Of Minister Pratap Jena

Cuttack: The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Salipur in the district, on Thursday directed the IIC of Mahanga police station to conduct a fresh investigation into the alleged involvement of minister Pratap Jena in the murder of two BJP workers in January this year.

The court’s directive came in response to a protest petition filed by Ramakanta Baral, son of the 82-year-old slain BJP worker Kulamani Baral.

In the petition, Ramakanta alleged that he had filed a complaint against 13 persons including the minister at Mahanga police station on January 3, a day after his father and his associate Dibyasingha Baral were murdered. But the IIC of the police station, who was the investigating officer (IO) in the case, overlooked the allegation against the minister whose name was included in the FIR.

The complainant also stated that the IO did not examine the material witnesses and wrongly recorded the statement of witnesses under Section 161 of CrPC to shield them.

Admitting the petition, the court said the Supreme Court in a verdict had stated that if the police do not perform its statutory duty in accordance with law or are remiss in the performance of its duty, the court cannot abdicate its duties on the precocious plea that investigation is an exclusive prerogative of police.

“Once conscience of the court is satisfied from the materials on record that the police have not investigated properly or apparently are remiss in the investigation, the court has a bounden constitutional obligation to ensure that the investigation is conducted in accordance with the law,” it observed.

The court later directed the IIC to take up further investigation of the case as expeditiously as possible and submit the report to the court.