Mamita Meher case: Dibya Shankar Mishra files defamation case against media houses
Bhubaneswar: With Opposition parties gunning for MoS Capt Dibya Shankar Mishra’s scalp over Mamita Meher murder case, the latter today broke his silence since the issue snowballed into a major controversy and dragged two media houses into court for ‘running malicious campaign’ against him.
The Minister, in a written statement, pointed out that two regional news channels and a news website have been purposefully running defamatory news against him which has hurt him and his family.
“I was shocked by the manner in which certain media have launched a malicious character assassination campaign based on falsehood against me. This has also hurt my family. Therefore, my family has filed criminal and civil defamation case against three media groups namely ARGUS TV, OTV and ODISHA REPORTER for defaming and character assassination with false, malicious and wild allegations for furthering their narrow personal and political gains,” said Mishra.
“These media apart from their smear campaign have also been questioning my silence. I have always believed that in sensitive heinous offences, law enforcement agencies should act in a free and fair manner so that the accused meet the ends of justice. Hence, I always avoided commenting on heinous offences. But I felt the need to give a statement as this smear campaign has been affecting my family,” he said.
“This malicious smear campaign by these media and opposition political parties marks a new low in the political discourse of Odisha, especially where certain sections of media are being used for narrow political gains at the cost of truth, empathy and sensitivity in heinous offences,” the minister said.
“As an MLA , I have attended functions at many educational institutions. In fact, public representatives are supposed to attend functions in educational institutions. Therefore, a crime happening in any one of the institutions that I have visited as a guest for functions cannot be attributed to me,” he stated.
“I would urge the opposition political parties and media, if you have an iota of evidence against me in this matter, then please take it to the Police or the Courts. I will not only resign from my position but will also retire from public life but don’t indulge in smear campaigns with personal political agenda. I request these media groups not to use this heinous offence for their personal political agenda but rather live upto the journalistic ethics which is expected of journalists and media houses,” Mishra said.
Also read– Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra Breaks Silence On Mamita Meher Case, Issues Statement.
The murder of 24-year-old Mamita Sahu of Jharni village under Turekela block of Balangir district has sent shockwaves across the state. While Mamita was working as a teacher at the Sunshine English Medium School at Mahaling in Kalahandi district, Sahu was the managing committee president of the educational institution.
Mamita went missing on October 8. Alleging involvement of Govind Sahu behind her missing, Mamita’s family members had lodged a complaint with police.
On October 19, bones of Mamita’s body were exhumed from a stadium construction site of the school in the presence of police.
The woman’s body was chopped into pieces before being burnt, said a member of the scientific team probing into the incident.
Revealing further details on findings of the investigation into Mamita Meher murder case, DIG (Northern Range) Deepak Kumar informed that the deceased teacher was aware of two extra-marital affairs of main accused Govind Sahu and she had warned him to bring his illicit affairs to fore.
At a presser, the senior cop informed that since Mamita had threatened Sahu to expose him, the latter was holding a grudge against her. To take revenge, he decided to eliminate her.
“After strangling her to death inside his car on October 8, Sahu took the body to the under-construction stadium site of the school for disposal. The accused burnt the body with the help of petrol, cardboard and tyre, before burying it. The next morning, he covered the pit,” said the DIG.
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