Berhampur: Police on Thursday quizzed former mayor Siba Shankar Das, alias Pintu, after he complained that there was a threat to his life.

The BJP leader escaped unhurt after goons fired a few rounds at him near the Neelakantheswar Temple here wuithn Gosaninuagaon police limits on January 11.

"We summoned him to Gosaninuagaon police station and interrogated him about the attack and he co-operated with us. We are examining it and will chart our course based on the evidence available," said Berhampur additional superintendent of police Shantanu Das, who was present during the interrogation.

However, he did not disclose anything about Pintu's statement. "We are investigating it and it would not be proper to disclose it now," Das said.

Before leaving his house for the police station, Pintu said he did not know who fired at him. "I saw the faces of both the persons - the one who fired at me and the one who was riding the motorcycle. But I don't know them. I have had no enmity with them. I think somebody hired them to kill me. I lodged the FIR through Suresh Kumar Patra because I was apprehensive about another attack near the police station," he said.

Pintu, however, did hint at the BJD's involvement in the attack. "I have named persons some builders, who are BJD supporters, in the FIR. They are continuously harassing me and trying to implicate me in cases and I think they are behind this conspiracy. I had no plan to attend the feast and no one knew about my visit to that place. I am astonished how they knew it."

Pintu was returning home after a social event organised by a BJP worker, Ranjan Sahu, at Neelakantheswar Temple at 3.45pm in Ranjan's car during the attack.

The police also took him to Golanthara to interrogate him in an alleged case of land-grabbing and financial offence.

He was arrested in July 2016 from Delhi and has 37 cases related to murder attempts, illegal use of explosives, extortion and threats in his name. He spent a year in jail before being released on bail last June.

Pintu had contested the last general election from Berhampur on a BJP ticket. He had joined the BJD in 2008 and was elected as councillor of the then Berhampur Municipality, and served as the city first mayor when it became a municipal corporation from 2009 to 2013. He re-joined the BJP in 2014.