Actress admits to having had altercation with Raja in car, but says it wasn’t severe enough to prompt actor to suicide
Cuttack: Actress Pralipta Priyadarshini Samal alias Jessi, the alleged girlfriend of album and cine actor Ranajit Patnaik alias Raja, appeared before Soro police Friday.
“I did not come to the police station earlier because I was afraid of police,” said Jessi. “I was deeply in love with Raja, and I will fully cooperate with the investigation into his death,” she added.
Jessi reached the police station at 6:20 pm along with her father Alok Ranjan Samal, mother Kabita Samal and uncle Prafulla Biswal. She was interrogated by sub-divisional police officer Prafulla Chandra Badajena and Soro inspector-in-charge Parsuram Sahu in presence of her mother.
She admitted to have had an altercation with Raja in the car while returning from the stage show. “Raja asked the driver to stop the car and got out of it. When he did not return after five minutes, car driver Dhaneswar Behera went to look for him. Dhaneswar came to the car and told us that Raja fell from the bridge and fractured his hands. Programme coordinator Pralay and Dhaneswar rescued Raja from under the bridge and took him to the hospital,” said Jessi.
She claimed that the argument between her and Raja was not so severe that he would commit suicide over it. She also denied having attempted suicide by jumping off the car.
Jena had earlier said that Jessi had verbally abused Raja during their arguments and that Raja had jumped off the bridge. Inconsistencies between the statements of Jena and Jessi had sent police into a tizzy. Police said they are likely to conduct polygraph tests on Dhaneswar and Jena.
Jena and Dhaneswar were again taken to the place of occurrence in presence of Balasore superintendent of police Niti Sekhar and SDPO Badajena Friday afternoon.
After Jessi did not turn up at the police station despite summon issued to her, police had sent a notice to her rented house at Shaktinagar in Cuttack asking her to depose before police within three days and warning her of action according to the law if she fails to depose.
Jessi then talked to Soro police through a third party and appeared only after police assured not to arrest her. Further interrogations are on to ascertain the circumstances leading to Raja’s death, said sources. PNN
