Bhubaneswar: Forty days have elapsed since the death of RTI activist Ranjan Das who was brutally murdered January 31. However, the police are yet to make any breakthrough in the case and arrest the culprits.
Rights body ‘Odisha Suchana Adhikar Abhiyan’ alleged Friday that efforts are being made to close the case since contractors close to the leaders of the ruling party in Odisha are involved in the gruesome act. It has demanded a CBI enquiry into the incident.
Pradeep Pradhan, the convener of the body stated that efforts are on to tamper the post-mortem report so that the murder can be passed off as an accident case.
Backing his claims, Praddep said that a video had gone viral during Holi, in which a man claims to have murdered Ranjan. The man also says that there are three more names in the ‘hit list’ and they will also be eliminated.
Pradeep asserted that the video has been shot at Korua area under Patkura police limits in Kendrapara district. He also said that the person seen in the video is a close associate of a BJD MLA. “In this murder the MLA is involved, so the police are also not verifying the authenticity of the video,” he alleged.
Kendrapara SP Niti Sekhar however, trashed the claims made by Pradeep. “We are investigating into the death of Ranjan. Prima facie according to the post-mortem report it appears to be a case of accident,” Sekhar said. “We have also interrogated the person see in the video. He said that he made those comments under the influence of alcohol. We are also verifying his statements,” Sekhar added.
Pradeep however, has refused to budge from his stand. He also demanded the suspension of Marshaghai inspector-in-charge (IIC). He threatened that the members of the body would gherao ‘Naveen Nivas’ the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik March 19 and launch a ‘jail bharo’ agitation if the demands were not met.
Due to the efforts of Ranjan incidents of corruption had come to light. He was repeatedly threatened by some contractors and a local leader. Fearing an attack on his life, Ranjan had lodged complaints with Patkura and Marshaghai police stations but both refused to entertain him.
PNN
