Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Manmath Routray has been booked for his alleged objectionable comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Bhubaneswar Cyber Police registered a case against Routray after the BJP’s Legal Cell lodged a complaint, accusing him of posting defamatory and misleading content on social media, targeting Modi and Majhi.
Routray has been booked under Sections 294(2), 296, 353(2), and 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and also Section 67 of the IT Act.
Claiming that Routray’s posts were derogatory in nature and had the potential to “mislead the public and incite disharmony,” the BJP submitted videographs and photocopies of the ‘defamatory’ posts as evidence to the Cyber Police.
The saffron party made the point that Routray’s post was published with the intent to harm the reputation of India’s Prime Minister and the Odisha Chief Minister.
A former Air India pilot, veteran leader Suresh Routray’s son Manmath quit his aviation career and joined politics in 2023. In his electoral debut, BJD candidate Manmath lost to BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi by a margin of 35,152 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Bhubaneswar constituency.
