Odisha Minor Girl Death: Former Panchayat Chairman Grilled By Police; BJP Demands Ex-Minister’s Role To Be Probed

Cuttack: A day after being suspended from Biju Janata Dal (BJD), former Mahanga Panchayat Samiti chairman Sarat Nayak was on Friday questioned by police in connection with a minor girl’s death, even as BJP demanded that Odisha MLA and former Minister Pratap Jena be brought under the purview of investigation in the case.

Interrogation of Nayak was carried out after he appeared before the Mahanga police as part of the probe into the death of the Class X girl student under mysterious circumstances in June this year, sources said.

The former panchayat samiti chairman came under police scanner after a purported audio clip of went viral on social media. In the audio clip, Nayak he can be heard demanding Rs 70,000 from the mother of a school teacher. He linked an alleged love affair with the teacher to the girl’s unnatural death.

As the audio clip sparked a row, the ruling the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) suspended Nayak from the party for his alleged rold in the sensitive case.

Mounting a scathing attack on the state government on the issue, state BJP vice president Lekhashree Samantsinghar claimed that Nayak is a close associate of Mahanga MLA Pratap Jena. Therefore, Jena should also be brought under the purview of the probe into the girl’s death, she said.

Alleging that attempts were made to suppress the case, the BJP leader said steps should be taken to ascertain as to who had given instruction to hush up the matter. No postmortem was conducted after the death of the girl on June 18 and her body was cremated in haste, she said, demanding immediate steps to probe the role of Pratap Jena in the case.

Pratap Jena and other senior BJD leaders were not immediately available for comment.

It may be noted here that the Class X girl student of Gokan High School had died on June 18 under mysterious circumstances and it was alleged that her body was disposed of in haste without postmortem.

Intensifying the probe in the case, a team of police questioned  physical education teacher (PET) of Gokan High School and his mother in their village in Jagatsinghpur.

Sarat Nayak was brought under the purview of investigation after the alleged audio of him talking with the teacher’s mother demanding money went viral on social media.

Stating that investigation in the case is in progress, Cuttack (Rural) SP Mihir Panda said the police are conducting the probe by taking all aspects into account. Based on the report, the next course of action will be decided., he said.