HC grants interim protection to BJP leaders in BJD councillor murder case

The Orissa High Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from coercive action to BJP leaders Golak Mohapatra and Bhrugu Buxipatra in connection with the murder case of BJD councillor in Ganjam district.

Asking the state counsel to submit the case details in the court, the single judge bench of Justice Shatrughna Pujahari posted the matter for hearing on March 19.

Police have been restrained from taking any coercive action against the two BJP leaders. Notices were issued to Mohapatra and Buxipatra under section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code to assist police in investigation of the murder case, court sources said.

Summonses were issued to Mohapatra and Buxipatra by Ganjam police in January this year in connection with the murder of BJD councillor Laxmidutta Pradhan in September 2017.

Suspecting foul play and terming the summonses "vendetta politics" by the ruling BJD, Mohapatra and Buxipatra have approached the court seeking anticipatory bail.

Pradhan was hacked to death by a group of assailants near his home in Chhatrapur area of Ganjam district on September 16, 2017.

Nineteen people, including BJP's Ganjam district unit secretary Krushna Chandra Nayak and Laxmipur Panchayat Samiti member N Duryodhan Reddy, have been arrested in the case so far.