Odisha min murder: Attempts being made to prove 'killer cop' was mentally unstable, claims ex-DGP
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Senior BJP leader Prakash Mishra claimed attempts were being made to prove that suspended ASI Gopal Das, the alleged murderer of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, was mentally unstable so that punishment for him was relaxed.
Mishra, a former director general of police of the state, also questioned the timing of declaring the health minister dead after being shot at in Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda district on January 29.
"The Crime Branch investigation is not on the right track. Attempts are being made to relax the punishment for Gopal Das. The manner in which the probe is being carried out indicates that efforts are being made to declare him mentally unstable," he told reporters on Thursday.
According to the post-mortem report published in the media, the bullet hit the minister's left side of the chest and normally a person dies within five minutes under such circumstances, Mishra said.
"Then, how was he airlifted to Bhubaneswar and operated upon at a private hospital?" he questioned.
Also, the empty shell of the bullet used in the killing is yet to be recovered, he said.
"Gopal Das may claim in the court that he had not fired the bullet as the shell was never recovered. He may also question how the minister survived for so long after being shot on the left side of the chest at 12.35 pm on January 29?" he said.
Mishra said it was a criminal offence to conceal the exact time of death and demanded that those trying to do it be booked.
He demanded to know why the results of polygraph and Narco analysis tests of Gopal Das conducted in Gujarat were not made public.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, T K Behera, said investigation is on the right track and all efforts are being made to bring a conclusive end.
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We are together at home: Sharad Pawar on Ajit Pawar
Mumbai (PTI): Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he and nephew Ajit Pawar are together as a family, but made it clear that the latter was heading a different political party.
“Gharat tari ekatrach ahet (we are together at home least),” the veteran politician said at a press conference at Chiplun in coastal Konkan region.
He was responding to a query about the demand from “various quarters in the state” that the uncle-nephew duo should come together once again.
In July last year, Ajit Pawar broke away from his uncle to join the Eknath Shinde-led government in the state as deputy chief minister. Of late, there has been speculation over his continuation in the ruling alliance.
Asked about Ajit Pawar’s recent remarks the decision to make his wife Sunetra Pawar contest the Lok Sabha polls against Supriya Sule in Baramati was a mistake, the veteran politician said, “He is in a different party. Why should we comment on decisions taken by another party?”
Asked if the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of NCP (SP), Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had decided its chef ministerial face, Pawar said, “I don’t think that it is an urgent issue at the moment”.
When elections were held after the Emergency, Morarji Desai’s name as PM candidate was not disclosed before polling, he added.
“Our (MVA) attempt is to give a progressive alternative in Maharashtra with help of other parties like Samajwadi Party and Peasants and Workers Party,” he said.
“Our observation is that the people of Maharashtra have made up their mind to give us (MVA) a chance in the ensuing elections,” he said.
Asked about Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu’s claim that sub-standard ghee with 'animal fat' was used to make prasad laddoos at Tirupati temple during Jaganmohan Reddy's tenure as CM, Pawar said, “If anything was mixed, it is very wrong and action should be taken against those involved”.
