Bhubaneswar: After a long gap, the Crime Branch today began a fresh investigation into the assassination of former Minister Naba Kishore Das in the wake of demand for CBI probe into the high-profile murder case.
While replying to a debate in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that a two-member team of the CB has already reached the residence of the Das at Jharsuguda and recording the statements of his family members.
The Crime Branch will probe into different angles of the murder case, the investigation of which was misled during the previous BJD government. The government decided to reopen the case and engage CB to make a fresh probe, Shri Harichandan said.
“CBI could have done the investigation, but we considered that the Crime Branch was not less talented given the freedom,” the Minister said.
Stating that the Crime Branch would do the probe thoroughly and professionally to unearth all angles and motives behind the murder case, Harichandan ridiculed the previous BJD government for not being able to provide justice to the family members of a former Cabinet Minister.
The CB, which has conducted the probe into the Das murder case during the BJD regime, has submitted the charge sheet in a trial court at Jharsuguda against Gopal Krishna Das, the prime accused in the case. The investigating agency had examined several witnesses.
The Law Minister’s announcement in this regard came after the slain Minister’s wife Minati Das sought an appointment with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to demand a CBI probe into the murder. Earlier, Das’s son and daughter had also through the media appealed for a CBI probe into the matter.
Terming it as a sensitive case, BJD MLA Gautam Buddha Das said the previous government had assigned the responsibility of the probe to the Crime Branch.
The Opposition was then claiming that the investigation was not going on the right track. Now they (BJP) have been in power for the last nine months and they can go for a CBI probe, he said.
“However, we are hearing that the Law Minister said that again the Crime Branch will reinvestigate the case,” the BJD MLA said.
Meanwhile, Dipali Das, daughter of the former Minister, said, “I have requested permission to meet the Chief Minister regarding my family’s concerns. I want to personally hand over a letter demanding a CBI investigation into my father’s murder case.”
She further revealed that she had attempted multiple times to reach out to the CM through members of his party but was unsuccessful.
“After exhausting all other options, I decided to directly approach the Chief Minister,” she added.