Probe begins into mystery fax

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury/Edited by Sandeep Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Sep 6:

Two days after Steel and Mines minister Rajanikant Singh filed an FIR at the Capital police station for an inquiry into who faxed the list of BJD candidates in Angul district for the coming ULB polls from the minister’s office to the Angul collector’s residential office, the Commissionerate Police today initiated investigation into the case.

As part of the preliminary inquiry, Inspector in charge (IIC) of Capital police station Asim Panda interrogated officials of the Steel and Mines department at the state secretariat.

“It was a preliminary investigation. We asked a few questions to the officials to find out who could have faxed the letter,” said police sources. The police would question the officials again if required, they said.

Acting on the direction of the State Election Commission (SEC), Singh had lodged an FIR at the Capital police station on Wednesday here. The minister sent the FIR copy through post and communicated the same to the SEC.

The SEC had asked Singh to lodge an FIR after opposition parties charged Singh with misusing his official machinery for political purpose, which is a clear violation of the model code of conduct currently in force for the election of ULB scheduled for September 19.

After Singh expressed his ignorance on who faxed the letter from his office, the SEC asked him to lodge an FIR with state police or assign the investigation to any probe agency of the state government.