Bhubaneswar: Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gopal Das shot Health Minister Naba Das with his service revolver from close range. According to Crime Branch, probing the firing incident, he took careful aim and shot to kill in what seemed to be a pre-planned operation. But when was the dismissed ASI issued the 9mm revolver?
According to sources, he has had the revolver for 10 years now, having been issued with 24 cartridges on January 9, 2013, two years after being posted in Jharsuguda.
Gopal was on traffic clearance duty for smooth passage of the convoy of the minister and he intentionally positioned himself at the lethal range of the weapon and fired from a five-metre distance. “Although not part of the minister’s protection team, he went close to him and fired two rounds. Nobody could have known what the assailant was up to since he was in uniform,” said Additional DGP (crime branch) Arun Bothra.
The CB also said that Gopal might have pulled the trigger on the minister as an act of “revenge” triggered by the former allegedly turning down his request to give a relative of his a job. He had met the minister 3 months ago.
Hours after the ASI opened two rounds of fire at the minister, his wife and son said he was suffering from bipolar disorder and was under medication. They also mentioned him being stressed at work. The police administration, however, said that neither the ASI nor his family had intimate them about his condition until Sunday’s shooting.
According to the CB, his medical history states that Gopal was in ‘lucid’ (psychiatric condition without symptomatic manifestation) period for a long time because of which none suspected his mental issue.
Meanwhile, Bothra again visited the crime spot at Brajarajnagar, where Naba Das was shot on January 29, on Tuesday. The hunt is on for the fired bullet, which had entered and exited the body, with the help of FARO camera. A scientific team from Delhi conducted laser scanning at the spot, sources added.
Addl DG Intelligence Sanjeeb Panda is also in Jharsuguda,
