Pressure is mounting on Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik to sack higher education minister Arun Sahoo, who has been accused by the Opposition of shielding the culprits involved in the kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl in Nayagarh, the home district of the minister.

Though the chief minister on Friday announced a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the incident, the move has failed to satisfy the BJP and the Congress, the two major Opposition parties. The issue continues to generate heat both inside and outside the Assembly. While the Assembly witnessed pandemonium with both the Congress and the BJP demanding resignation of Sahoo, workers of both parties continued to organise demonstrations against the government in different parts of the state.

Naveen, who had earlier announced a crime branch probe into the incident, said on Thursday, “If an SIT investigation is what is required, the state government will take steps in this regard and do it immediately. My government is committed to a free and fair investigation and we always want justice to be done.”

However, it is yet to be clear whether the probe will be conducted under the supervision of the judge of the high court or by the police itself.

Though the chief minister appealed to all parties to cooperate, his appeal failed to evoke a desired response from the Opposition.

Senior BJP legislator Jaynarayan Mishra said, “There is ambiguity in the chief minister’s announcement. He has not clearly spelt out that there will be an SIT inquiry. He is trying to divert attention from the issue. We want the minister to immediately step down. Unless and until he resigns, justice cannot be done to the family of the five-year-old girl. The case should be referred to the CBI.”

Outside, BJP and Congress activists tried to gherao the Assembly on the issue. A group of Youth Congress workers, led by its state president Smruti Ranjan Lenka, tried to sneak past the security corridor surrounding the House. They jostled with the police in their bid to march towards the Assembly demanding justice for Pari, whose parents had attempted self-immolation outside the House a few days ago. The Congress workers were taken into preventive custody.

“The minister should immediately step down,” said senior Congress legislator Tara Prasad Bahinipati.

On July 14, Pari was kidnapped while playing near her house in her native village in Nayagarh district. A fortnight later her skeletal remains were found in a decomposed state from the backyard of the house. Her parents have alleged that since the people involved in the crime are close to minister Sahoo, the police are not taking any action in the matter.

Problems mounted for Sahoo after the sarpanch of Laxmiprasad panchayat in Nayagarh, Soumyaranjan Pradhan, alleged that the minister was protecting the main accused Babuli Nayak, who is considered close to Sahoo. Pradhan alleged that the local police was also trying to suppress the case.