Bhubaneswar: Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police Tuesday began a fresh investigation into the killing of former minister Naba Kishore Das, a senior minister said in the Assembly.
While replying to a debate in the Assembly, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that a two-member team of the CB has already reached the residence of the Das at Jharsuguda and recorded the statements of his family members.
“The Crime Branch will probe into different angles of the killing case, the investigation of which was misled during the previous BJD government. The government decided to reopen the case and engage CB to make a fresh probe. CBI could have done the investigation, but we considered that the Crime Branch was not less talented given the freedom,” the minister said.
The Law minister’s announcement in this regard came after the slain minister’s wife Minati Das sought an appointment with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to demand a CBI probe into the killing. Earlier, Das’s son and daughter had also through media appealed for a CBI probe into the matter.
Stating that the Crime Branch would do the probe thoroughly and professionally to unearth all angles and motives behind the killing case, the Law minister ridiculed the previous BJD government for not being able to provide justice to the family members of a former cabinet minister.
The CB, which has conducted the probe into the Das killing case during the BJD regime, has submitted the charge sheet in a trial court at Jharsuguda against Gopal Krishna Das, the prime accused in the case. The investigating agency had examined several witnesses.
However, the investigation overlooked crucial angles like whether some other people were involved or the persons behind the killing case. Many people do not believe that only Gopal Krishna Das masterminded and executed the crime, a senior lawyer said.
Sources said a two-member CB team, comprising a new investigating officer ASP Vijay Mallick and DSP Diptimayee Mallick, visited Das’s residence at Sarbahal in Jharsuguda and recorded the statements. They have so far recorded the statements of Depali Das and Bishal Das, the daughter and son of Naba Kishore Das.
Naba Kishore Das, then Health Minister, was shot at by a policeman January 29, 2023, at Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda district. He was later on the day declared dead at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.
PTI
