Odisha BJP Targets Minister Naba Kishore Das Over His Cook’s Death

Bhubaneswar: Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das has come under the target of BJP over death of his cook on the premises of the minister’s residence in Jharsuguda.

According to sources, the 22-year-old cook, Lalit Kumar Sahu belonging to Dhenkanal, was staying in the staff quarters of minister’s residence along with his elder brother Biranchi Sahu after getting the job around a year back.

Lalit was found hanging in his quarters on Sunday evening. Jharsuguda Town police had seized the body. After the post-mortem was conducted the same evening, the police handed over Lalit’s body to his family.

After the matter came to light on Wednesday, the BJP raised doubt over the hasty manner the police completed the post-mortem process in night and handed over Lalit’s body to his family for cremation. In two separate press conferences, BJP state secretary Tankadhar Tripathy and leader Anjali Behera alleged that the minister was involved in the incident and demanded a high-level probe into the case.

The ruling BJD has come to the defence of minister Das. Jharsuguda Town BJD president Sandeep Awasthy said it was an unfortunate incident and the opposition party’s attempt to give it a political colour is condemnable. “Investigation is being conducted as per law and opposition should wait until the probe is over and not form an opinion until then,” TNIE quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, police sources said transaction of more than Rs 6 lakh was made from Lalit’s account in April. He had also taken loans from his brother and father several times. Police suspect that he was betting in IPL matches lately and resorted to the extreme step due to losses.