Naba Das Murder: Bijoy Mohapatra Sees Conspiracy, Claims Two Officers Masterminded It

Bhubaneswar: Amid the ongoing Crime Branch probe into Naba Kishore Das murder case, senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra on Thursday dropped a bombshell by alleging that two non-Odia bureaucrats were the mastermind of the incident.

“Two non-Odia officers- an IAS cadre and an IPS cadre – are the main characters behind the scene. Some ZP members, who were close to Naba Das, were threatened by police not to disclose anything about the murder,” he said without naming anyone.

Bijoy further questioned as to why Section 120B was not included in the case. “Had the section been added, criminal conspiracy angle would have been probed. But it was dropped deliberately to cover up the conspiracy. It seems like efforts are being made to scuttle the probe to protect some big shots involved in the case,” he alleged.

The former minister said it was a pre-planned murder and movements of the accused Gopal Das movement was tracked a few days before the incident. “But no investigation has been done in this regard,” he said.

Referring to the allegation that Gopal was suffering for some mental illness, Bijoy said he had earlier presented prescription from VIMSAR, Burla, about him having consulted doctors at the orthopaedic department in 2022. “There is no record of him being treated for mental illness. A script was written and circulated on his mental illness to protect him and the conspirators,” he claimed.

He then read out Section 84, “Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.”

People are in the dark over the ‘so-called’ international investigation as claimed by the government, he further said, adding, police officers here are competent enough and have the experience of handling such cases.

“I fail to understand why Crime Branch is so  insistent on taking him to NIMHANS, Bengaluru. They need to conduct an inquiry into the murder and not the health condition of the accused. It is also important to ascertain the motive behind the incident to dispel doubts over the investigation,” he added.

He also questioned how retired judge Justice J P Das was monitoring the case and whether he had submitted any report in this regard.

Rubbishing the allegations, BJD leader and minister Pramila Mallik said that it had become a habit with the opposition to come up with a new conspiracy angle in the murder case almost daily.