BJP leader in a murder case arrested

Puri, Aug 14 (UNI) Puri municipality BJP councillor Krushna Chandra Panda was today arrested in connection with a 1997 murder case.

According to the police, one Purna Chandra Dalai, father of the deceased, had lodged a complaint with the police in 1997 alleging that Krushna Chandra Panda along with others waylaid his son Ramesh (25) and assaulted him with lethal weapons, killing him on the spot.

The incident took place at the southern side of the Jagannath temple near Panjabi Mutt, he said.

The police had registered a case of murder against Mr Panda and eleven others during the investigation into the murder but the accused got their arrest stayed from the High Court, while the police submitted chargesheet against 12 people stating that Krishna Panda as the number one accused in the court.

After six years, the stay was vacated in January this year.

Police arrested Mr Panda and presented him in the court of Sub divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) who remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mr Panda, also BJP yuva morcha's district president, told the reporters that the case was ''politically motivated'' and he was falsely implicated at the instance of his political rivals.

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