STATE EDITIONS
BJD
LEADER MURDERED IN TITILAGARH
Monday, 16 December
2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
===================================================
In a shocking
incident, a BJD leader of Titilagarh in Balangir district was brutally murdered
by unknown assailants while he was on his morning walk at Titilagarh on Sunday.
Abhimanyu Sahu,
general secretary of the Biju Yuva Janata Dal, had gone for a walk at 5.30 in
the morning when some unknown persons attacked him with sharp weapons. Some
passersby found the body of Sahu with his throat slit open lying in a pool of
blood on the roadside. Reports said four persons were following Sahu by a
vehicle before attacking him.
After the news of
the murder of the popular young leader spread, hundreds of BJD supporters
rushed to the spot. Angry supporters of Sahu later gheraoed the Titilagarh
police station demanding immediate arrest of the killers. The police sealed the
border of district and a scientific team was sent to the spot for
investigation. The police launched a massive manhunt to nab the murderers.
"The police are looking into this incident from all angles," said
Balangir SP Ravi Prakash. Leaders of various political parties while expressing
grief and shock over Sahu's brutal killing demanded an impartial inquiry into
the gruesome incident, which has triggered tension in the town. Sahu was a
trusted aide of Balangir BJD MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, who said Sahu's
killing is a great loss to the BJD.
ABHIMANYU
MURDER: CRIME BRANCH PROBE ORDERED
Tuesday, 17
December 2013 | PNS | BHUBANESWAR / TITILAGARH | in Bhubaneswar
=========================================================
Chief Minister
Naveen Patnaik on Monday ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the murder of BJD
leader Abhimanyu Sahu at Titilagarh in Balangir district. ADG, Crime BK Sharma
said a four-member SIT (special investigation team) of the Crime Branch headed
by an ASP has left for Titilagarh for the purpose.
The police suspect
that political rivalry was the reason behind the murder, for which professional
killers were engaged. However, a total bandh was observed in Titilagarh on
Monday with Sahu’s supporters and several organisations demanding a CBI
(Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into the brutal murder of the popular
leader. Vehicles went off the roads, shops downed shutters and educational
institutions and business establishments remained closed
Titilagarh town
erupted in anger and outrage after the gruesome murder of Biju Yuba Janata Dal
(BYJD) State general secretary Sahu while on his routine morning walk early on
Sunday morning. Hundreds of Sahu’s angry supporters staged a demonstration at
the local hospital questioning the way the police were going about the
preliminary investigation. Titilagarh PS IIC Chinatmani Pradhan faced the ire
of the agitators when he sought to restrain one of them.
Sensing the mood of
the protesters, the officer ran back to the police station, but the crowd
followed him. The protesters relented only after persuasion by SDPO Dilip
Purohit. In view of the tension, Balangir Superintendent of Police R Prakash
and Additional SP Prafulla Patra rushed to Titilagarh and camped there to
oversee security measures.
Hundreds of people
joined the funeral procession of Sahu, who was widely tipped to be the
Titilagarh BJD candidate in the coming Assembly elections. As the procession
winded through the streets of the town, hundreds more paid their last respects
to the departed leader on roadsides. A host of BJD leaders, including
Industries Minister Niranjan Pujari, former Minister AU Singh Deo and BYJD
president Sanjay Dasburma, joined the funeral procession.
The wrath of the
crowd erupted again when AU Singh Deo, along with his two sons Kalikesh Singh
Deo and Arkesh Singh Deo, were paying their last respects to Sahu at the
cremation ground. Sahu’s supporters rained abuses on the father-son trio and
threw away the wreaths they had placed on the body of their leader.
Though close to the
Singh Deos in the initial stages, Sahu had fallen out with the royal family of
late and become close to Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya, Energy Minister
Arun Sahu and BYJD president Dasburma. He was eyeing the BJD ticket from the
Titilagarh Assembly constituency which made him an eyesore for some local BJD
leaders. Sahu had been attacked with some sharp weapon near a dhaba in
the Bandupala area of the town. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared
dead on arrival. His neck had been slit and there was a serious injury on the
backside of his head. According to reports, more than five persons
followed Sahu. While one of them was on a motorcycle, the others were in a white
Bolero. The police believe that the car first dashed him from behind and after
that his neck was slit.
But the crucial
question is whether locals or outsiders committed the heinous crime. According
to sources, the police have got some CCTV footage of the happening from a hotel
on the road through which Sahu went on morning walk.
‘TOP
BJD LEADERS BEHIND ABHIMANYU MURDER’
Wednesday, 18
December 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
Speculations are
rife as senior Congress leader belonging to Balangir district Nrasingha Mishra
on Tuesday reiterated that top leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are
involved in the murder of BJD youth leader Abhimanyu Sahu’s gruesome murder at
Titilagarh in Balangir district on Sunday.
“Abhimanyu’s murder
was the result of the internecine conflict within the BJD. The top leadership
of the ruling party is linked with the incident. Such political murders are on
the rise in Balangir district, but the killers are not being caught,” Mishra told
the media, demanding a CBI probe into the case.
Mishra, who is also
an acclaimed lawyer, also referred to the clear hints by slain Sahu’s wife Gita
and Balangir Superintendent of Police Ravi Prakash that political rivalry was
the reason behind Sahu’s killing.
Mishra demanded to
know why Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is not responding to the demand of a CBI
(Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry and has, instead, ordered a State
Crime Branch probe into the murder. The Crime Branch is under the State Government’s
domain, he pointed out.
Mishra, who is the
State Congress media cell chairman, reminded the Government that Sahu’s
supporters are demanding a CBI inquiry and the total Titilagarh Bandh on Monday
was held in support of this demand.
Mishra alleged that
the Chief Minister seems to have come to know who is behind the murder and
that’s the reason he has ordered a Crime Branch inquiry instead of a CBI probe.
On the other hand,
Government (BJD) chief whip in the State Assembly Pravat Tripathy justified the
Chief Minister’s act in ordering a Crime Branch probe. He remarked that there
are differences in the BJD as there are in other parties, but the BJD
infighting is not serious that it would lead to elimination of a leader.
===========================================================