CM to attend departed Naba Das’s Sraddhanjali Sabha in Jharsuguda tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will visit Jharsuguda and pay his tribute to former Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on the occasion of Das’s 12th day (Dwadasah) rituals tomorrow. Secretary 5T VK Pandian will accompany the CM, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said today.

Several senior BJD leaders are also to attend a function being organised on this occasion.

Tight security arrangements are in place for the CM’s visit. Twenty platoons of force have been deployed and Jharsuguda police have issued a traffic advisory for the purpose, a source said.

The Sraddhanjali Sabha will be organised at play ground of Sarabahal high school in Jharsuguda. The CM is to remain present at the condolence meeting for about half an hour after reaching at 12.15 pm.

It is pertinent to mention, the former leader from Jharsuguda was killed in gun attack on January 29.

The firing took place when the minister alighted from a car to attend an inauguration programme and his supporters were garlanding him. He sustained bullet injuries on his chest and later succumbed.

Accused Gopal Das, a former ASI, was immediately overpowered and nabbed and detained by police. Besides, Odisha Crime Branch was directed to probe into the murder, which is still underway.

Initially, the BJD minister was rescued and rushed to Jharsuguda District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). He was later airlifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after his condition deteriorated.

The former minister Das succumbed to severe bullet injury while undergoing treatment.