BJP demands CBI probe into Guna Singhari murder

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, Mar 3:

With Puri police revealing that the murderous attack on Law and Culture Minister Maheswar Mohanty on February 21 was the ‘fallout’ of the August 2012 murder of BJD Councillor and Jagannath Temple priest Talachhu Bhagaban Mohapatra, aka Guna Singhari, the state BJP today demanded handing over of the case to the CBI to find out the actual culprits behind the gruesome killing.

The police has nabbed Singhari’s mother, Sradhamani Mohapatra, 60, and named her the ‘main conspirator’ in the attack on Mohanty, who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Besides, five close associates of Singhari have been arrested for allegedly attacking the minister.

“Since the police have made it clear that attack on Maheswar was a fallout of the Singhari murder case, the role of the Law Minister, if any, in the murder of Guna needs to be found out. The police should file a case against Mohanty just as it has done against Guna’s family members for the attack on the Minister,” said state BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma in a press release here.

Maintaining that the inquiry into the high profile case by police can not be impartial, he demanded its probe to be handed over to the CBI.

Meanwhile, Laxmipriya Mohapatra, wife of Guna Singhari, has denied the involvement of her mother-in-law in the attack on the Minister.

“My mother-in-law is not linked to the attack on the minister, but the police have deliberately implicated her in the case. A number of land mafia and affluent politicians were involved in the killing my husband. But the police arrested only a few henchmen of those affluent persons,” alleged Mohapatra.