Former MLA Ramesh Jena's bail plea rejected

Former MLA Ramesh Jena and four others were sent to jail as a court here today rejected their bail pleas.
Rejecting the bail applications of the four persons who were arrested yesterday, the court of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Sarita Mohanty sent them to judicial custody till March 18.
While Jena (38) and his three associates Rama Krushna Padhy (30), Prem Chandra Panda (28) and Jagata Behera (23) were booked for bombing the house of Ranjit Nayak, a Congress corporator of Berhampur Municipal Corporation on February 28 night, the ex-MLA's father Arakhita Jena (67) was arrested for illegal possession of firearms in his house.

Ramesh, who was MLA from Sanakhemundi in Ganjam district from 2009 to 2014, was also accused of illegal possession of firearms.
During his arrest from a flat in Bhubaneswar, the police seized a 9-mm pistol and five live ammunition from Jena's car.
The vehicle was used for the escape of the accused persons implicated in the bombing case, ASP (Berhampur) Trinath Patel said.
The police seized over Rs 10.70 lakh in cash and a gun from the house of Arakhita during the raids, he said.
Meanwhile, angry over Jena's arrest, Congress chief whip in the assembly, Tara Prasad Bahinipati said "at the behest of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the police arrested Jena in false cases with political motive.