Tourism min, BJD MP accused of killing Puri councillor

Odisha Tourism Minister Maneswar Mohanty and Puri BJP MP Pinaki Mishra were today alleged to have provided protection to those responsible for the killing of a former BJD councillor, a charge denied by both of them.
Demanding a CBI probe, 70-year-old Sradhamani Mohapatra, who was on bail after arrest for conspiracy in the attempted murder of Mohanty, alleged at a press conference in Puri that the Minister had a role in the murder of her son Bhagabat Talachhu Mohapatra, a former BJD councillor of Puri.
She also alleged that Puri BJD MP Pinaki Mishra had provided legal protection to the conspirators involved in her son's murder.

Mohapatra also demanded a CBI probe into the attack on the minister.
Rejecting the allegation, the minister said "I have no role in the incident. I will also welcome a CBI probe into the matter."
When contacted, Mishra termed Mohapatra's statement as irresponsible and said "at no point of time in my life I have had any link with any criminal. The Chief Justice of India had granted bail to one of the accused in the murder case."

Asked whether he was pleading for bail for one of the accused in the murder case, Mishra said as a professional lawyer he had placed the matter before the court of CJI.

"This does not mean that I provided protection to any accused person. If this was so, then no lawyer can perform his professional duties," Mishra, a Supreme Court lawyer, said.
The Puri district sessions court had yesterday granted bail to Mohapatra in the case pertaining to the murderous assault on the tourism minister on February 21.
She was arrested on March 4.