Bhubaneswar, Feb. 12: The Opposition Congress today accused chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his government of trying to suppress the alleged involvement of a minister in the kidnap of a farmer belonging to Bargarh district.

The party legislators today caused an uproar in the Assembly over the issue and forced two adjournments. However, normality was restored after Speaker Niranjan Pujari had directed the government to make a statement tomorrow on the issue in the House.

Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra, who moved a privilege motion against the government, said he had made a special mention in the Assembly on Monday about the kidnap of one Sugri Ranbida - which was reported at the Rusuda outpost on January 25. Even though the allegation disclosed of cognisable offence, no case was registered on the day.

He alleged that the date of the complaint had been forged through overwriting. Though the victim alleged that he had been kidnapped at the behest of handloom and textile minister Snehangni Chhuria and confined in her residence in Bhubaneswar, Chhuria's name did not figure in the FIR.

Mishra alleged that Ranbida, in a statement attested by a notary in Bargarh, said officials of Bheden police station had called him yesterday.

Ranbida was made to sit in the police station for three hours and asked to accompany the police team to Bhubaneswar to identify Chhuria's residence. He was taken in a Bolero to Bhubaneswar. However, after receiving a phone call he was taken back to his village.

Raising the issue in the Assembly, Mishra said: "This shows that the government is putting undue pressure on the police to suppress facts about the alleged involvement of the minister."

The leader of Opposition demanded that the chief minister, who heads the home department, made a statement in the House.

As the Speaker ignored the demand, the Congress members rushed to the Well pressing for it. They shouted slogans and thumped the Speaker's podium, forcing Pujari to adjourn the proceedings twice.

Ranbida, a resident of Hatgaon village in the Bheden police station jurisdiction, said in a petition that he was a member of the Rusuda Service Co-operative Society. The election to the society was held on January 25.

"But to prevent from exercising my franchise, I was kidnapped on January 18 by Sadanada Khamari and others on the pretext that Snehangni Chhuria was calling me. I was first brought to her Bargarh residence and later to her residence in Bhubaneswar. I was kept confined in a room there," Ranbida had alleged.