Cuttack

Mahanga Double Murder In Odisha: New HC Bench Hears BJD MLA Pratap Jena’s Petition

Cuttack: A new bench of the Orissa High Court began hearing the petition of BJD MLA and former Minister Pratap Jena challenging the order of a lower court in the sensational Mahanga double murder case.

The High Court bench of Justice Gourishankar Satpathy started hearing Jena’s plea as Justice B P Routray had last week recused from hearing the case.

Meanwhile, the interim relief for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA will continue to remain in force. The HC has extended the interim protection from coercive action against him in the Mahanga double murder case.

In his petition, Jena has challenged the order of the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Salepur that had taken cognisance of offences against him as an accused in the Mahanga double murder case.

The JMFC’s order issued on September 24 2023 said, “After going through the statements of the complainant, witnesses, and other available materials on record, it found that a prima facie case punishable for the offences under sections 302, 506, 120 B of the Indian Penal Code is made against the accused Pratap Jena.”

The BJD legislator has challenged in his petition the validity of the judicial magistrate’s order on grounds of jurisdiction. The judicial magistrate had summoned Jena to appear before it in person on October 31.

However, appearing through his lawyer, Jena had filed a petition stating that he is unable to appear in person before it due to his illness. The petition said he was under treatment at Capital Hospital where the treating doctor, advised him bed rest for one month.

He further urged the court to exempt him from personal appearance as per section 205 of IPC citing illness.

On January 2, 2021, BJP leader Kulamani Baral, 75, who was the block chairman of Mahanga, and his associate Dibyasingh Baral, 80, were hacked to death by unidentified miscreants near Jankoti village in Odisha’s Mahanga tehsil while returning home by a motorbike.

The prime accused in the case, Prafulla Biswal, was also found dead under mysterious circumstances near Govindpur in Tangi of the district later.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

A Relook At Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Odisha Connect On His 100th Birth Anniversary

Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other prominent leaders, paid tributes to former Prime…

13 minutes ago

Rain May Continue In Bhubaneswar & 15 Odisha Dists For Another 3 Hours

Bhubaneswar: Rain may continue to lash Bhubaneswar and several other districts in Odisha till 1…

39 minutes ago

Ideology Killed A Part Of Our Innate Goodness. How Long For The Rest to Die?

In 2024, we shrank as human beings a bit more. Blame ideology for it. It…

51 minutes ago

‘Par Acting Kaun Karega’: Netizens Take A Dig At Janhvi & Sidharth’s ‘Param Sundari’

Mumbai: Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra will be sharing screen for the first time in…

13 hours ago

Odisha Govt Appoints R Santhanagopalan As Secretary Of SSEPD Dept

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has appointed IAS officer R Santhanagopalan as secretary, Social Security and…

13 hours ago

[Watch] Allu Arjun’s Residence Covered With White Sheets & Curtains Post Vandalisation

Hyderabad: Actor Allu Arjun appeared before the Chikkadpally police on Tuesday morning for questioning in connection with the stampede…

13 hours ago

This website uses cookies.