BHUBANESWAR: A couple from Odisha's Nayagarh district attempted self-immolation outside assembly here on Tuesday in protest against police inaction over alleged abduction and murder of their 5-year-old daughter in July.
Though the police outside the assembly prevented Ashok Sahoo and his wife Soudamini from setting themselves ablaze, the opposition BJP and Congress created furore inside the assembly after the couple accused cabinet minister Arun Kumar Sahoo of shielding the accused.
“I had lodged a complaint with Nayagarh Sadar police on July 14 about disappearance of my daughter, who was playing alone outside our home. After some days, we were shattered to find her skeletal remains kept inside a bag near our village. DNA test of the skeletons confirmed about my daughter’s murder. But the police have so far not arrested anyone due to political pressure. Some of the accused are close associates of minister Arun Sahoo, who is our local (Nayagarh) MLA,” Ashok told media persons.
As the assembly members were busy discussing the prevailing the law and order situation in the state against the backdrop of the alleged custodial deaths in Puri and Sundargarh, the startling allegation against the minister came as a shot in the arm of the opposition, who demanded a reply from the chief minister Naveen Patnaik on the Nayagarh issue.
“It is shocking that a minister is trying to protect killers of a kid, whose parents have been denied justice. The chief minister should issue a statement in the house and sack the minister,” BJP MLA and leader of opposition Pradipta Naik said.
“A couple tried to kill themselves at the Odisha Assembly today, insisting that a very prominent BJD leader is sheltering the rapist & murderer of their 5 year old daughter,” BJP’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda tweeted.
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati also bayed for the minister’s blood. “The government’s shoddy justice delivery system has forced the bereaved parents to attempt suicide in front of the assembly. It is yet another instance of police inaction. Unless action is taken against the police and the minister, we will continue to protest,” Bahinipati said.
Neither the minister Sahoo nor BJD reacted to the charges. However, the speaker Surjya Narayan Patro has asked minister of state (MOS) for home Dibya Shankar Mishra to issue a statement in the assembly on Wednesday. “The opposition members raised four issues, including security breach as well as the couple’s self-immolation bid outside the assembly’s high security zone, delay in police investigation into the couple’s complaint in Nayagarh and the name of a minister of Nayagarh district being alleged by the couple. I have directed the MOS, home, to give the detailed statement by Wednesday,” Patro said.
Nayagarh police denied any political pressure on them. “Our investigation has been continuing in a fair manner. We are working on some clues. Motive of the murder and identities of the accused person or persons are being ascertained,” Nayagarh superintendent of police Pratyush Diwakar told TOI.