Mahanga murder: Ruling BJD terms BJP’s charges ‘unfortunate’, says law will take its own course

Bhubaneswar: Responding to BJP ‘s attack over the murder of Kulamani Baral in Mahanga of Cuttack district a few days back, ruling BJD said the State government has a policy of ‘zero tolerance’ towards political violence and law will take its own course in this case as well.

BJD Spokesperson Chinmaya Sahoo told mediapersons during a presser today it is unfortunate BJP is targeting the ruling party over the murder.

“Those, who were targeting the ruling party over the murder, do not have moral rights to do so. The party of these naysayers is in power in several states where there is a deterioration of law and order and everyone is aware of the same,” he added.

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Odisha didn’t report a single political murder in 2019. West Bengal reported 12 political murders followed by six political murders each in Bihar and Jharkhand. Karnataka and Punjab reported four political murders in 2019. Different parties are in power in different states where the political violence have been reported.

Sahoo further informed the Cuttack Rural SP B. Jugal Kishore has already said the persons behind Kulamani Baral’s murder will be arrested soon.

Meanwhile, Senior BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan said its youth wing, BJP Yuva Morcha will gherao police stations across the State demanding immediate arrest of the persons involved in the murder of its two leaders in Mahanga. Also, Harichandan alleged a Minister was involved in the case and the party demands his resignation.

He added the party activists will gherao SP offices on January 6 over the matter. Apart from this, 25,000 party activists will stage protest in front of the DG office on January 8.

Worth mentioning, on January 2 evening, BJP’s Salepur circle In-Charge Kulamani Baral was hacked to death along with his associate Dibyasingh Baral by some miscreants near Jankoti village in Mahanga while returning home on a motorcycle.

Following the incident, leaders of the BJP’s Salepur unit blamed ruling BJD for the murders and termed the case as a political violence.