With Orissa High court quashing a vigilance case against CRPF DG Prakash Mishra, opposition Congress today demanded a CBI probe into alleged cash distribution by ruling BJD in the state during 2014 polls while BJP asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to apologise for the false case against the senior IPS officer.
The vigilance wing of Odisha police had booked Mishra, presently working as the Director General of CRPF, under Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of IPC, which was said to have blocked his way to become director of CBI in November last year.
Mishra had challenged the vigilance move terming the FIR against him as "suspect" and "suggestive of oblique motives" and had urged the High Court to quash the FIR and stop the criminal proceedings against him as the same was an outcome of malafide action and abuse of judicial process.
The opposition parties' reaction was made basing on Mishra's petition in the High Court where he said: "... During the elections, large amount of unaccounted cash were seized by the police and the investigation of the chitfund case and the mining scam were sought to be politically coloured."
"The petitioner (Mishra), however, refused to bow down to political pressure while discharging his responsibilities during these investigation. Immediately after the election results were announced, on 28-05-2014, the recommendation made in his favour for deputation to the Union of India, was withdrawn although the reasons disclosed were that there was an acute shortage of officers in the rank of DG level in the state of Odisha," the petition read.
Taking cue from these submissions made in Mishra's petition, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan demanded a CBI probe into the matter of cash seizure and "political pressure" to dilute probe into chitfund cases and mining scam.
Hitting out at the BJD government for slapping a false case against Mishra, BJP legislature party leader Basant Panda said the Chief Minister should tender an apology for the case registered against vigilance.
