Sambalpur: Jibanlal Nayak, who was injured in the firing incident involving Odisha Health Minister Naba Das, was discharged from VIMSAR, Burla, on Tuesday.
The bullet which hit Naba brushed past his neck as he stooped to touch his feet after the minister alighted from the vehicle by opening the front side passenger door at Brajarajnagar on January 29. “The accused Gopal Das was standing with us as we waited for the minister to arrive. I could see Naba dada smiling from his car on seeing the huge gathering. As he got down from the vehicle, I moved forward to touch his feet and heard a loud noise over my head. It felt like an explosion and I moved two steps back. As I raised my head, I saw that dada had collapsed and was bleeding profusely,” said the native of Paralakehmundi in Gajapati district.
As Naba was put back in the vehicle and rushed to Jharsuguda district headquarters hospital, Jibanlal touched his nape and felt a wound there. “I saw some councillors standing nearby and raised an alarm, following which I was taken to Jharsuguda in a police vehicle,” he added.
Gopal, the dismissed ASI was deployed for traffic clearance duty in view of the minister’s programme, but he came close to him and opened fire from his service pistol from a very close range aiming at him.
In the FIR, Brajrajnagar police station inspector-in-charge (IIC) Pradumnya Kumar Swain further said that the ASI fired two more rounds of bullets from his 9 mm pistol as an attempt was being made to overpower and disarm him and one bullet hit the IIC on his right finger.
Meanwhile, the Crime Branch, which is probing the murder case, is taking help from Directorate of Forensic Science, Gandhinagar, for crime scene recreation. Justice JP Das, who has been appointed by HC to monitor the investigation, is also likely to visit the crime spot, sources said.
