Odisha: Slain BJP leader Kulamani Baral's son seeks call detail records of accused

CUTTACK: Irked over the dilly-dallying attitude of local police in re-investigation of the Mahanga double murder case, Ramakanta Baral, son of slain BJP leader and former block chairman Kulamani Baral has submitted a petition to Cuttack SP (Rural) urging him to take necessary steps for recording and saving the call details of the accused.

On August 26, the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class had directed Mahanga police station IIC to take up further investigation expeditiously into allegation of Jena's involvement in the case. The court observed that a thorough investigation was needed in the light of allegations levelled by Ramakanta in the protest petition.

Ramakanta alleged the accused may have contacted each other and a few public functionaries before committing the crime. He said Jena may delete call records and details on his mobile phone taking advantage of his position and it is imperative to collect the same.  

"Under such circumstances, I request you to direct the IIC of Mahanga police station to collect, record and preserve the call details of the accused (Jena) along with Umasankar Biswal (Bapi Biswal), the private personal assistant of the Law Minister and Sarat Nayak, the present chairman of Mahanga Panchayat Samiti as they are the masterminds of the incident," he stated.

He has submitted the copies of the petition to the Chief Minister, Home Secretary, DGP and IG (Central Range), Cuttack.

Accusing the police of deliberately delaying re-investigation into the case, president of Mahanga unit of Congress Debendra Sahoo said, "We don’t understand why the police are delaying collecting call details of the accused from December 2020 to February 5, 2021. The police are deliberately delaying collecting the call detail records (CDR) of the accused as these can be saved for maximum one year."