Bhubaneswar, Dec. 16: The city today witnessed protests and counter protests over the scandalous video purportedly showing mayor Ananta Narayan Jena in a compromising position.
Denying his involvement, Jena, who lodged a complaint with Capital Police Station late last night against Chhatra Congress president Itish Pradhan and Pradip Pandey, the owner of the YouTube channel where the video was uploaded, today filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against the two at the sub-divisional judicial magistrate's court here.
The Telegraph, however, has not verified the authenticity of the video.
The BJP and the Congress demanded a CBI probe into the case. BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb, on the other hand, said the allegations were being examined. Today, BJP workers attempted to surround the police commissioner's office and a minor scuffle took place between the demonstrators and the policemen.
BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said the police were trying to shield the culprit in the case. He said: "We want immediate arrest and resignation of the mayor. The CBI should be entrusted with the probe as we do not have faith in the state police or its crime branch."
BJP workers sat on the road near Power House Square disrupting traffic for nearly half an hour.
On the other hand, various organisations, including the BJD's women's wing hit the streets in support of the mayor and said that the allegations were part of a conspiracy to defame Jena. Last night, hundreds of people had accompanied Jena to the police station when he went to lodge the complaint.
Students of Rama Devi Women's University staged a roadblock by burning tyres in front of the varsity during the day in support the mayor. They demanded the arrest of Pradhan and Pandey accusing them of bringing false allegations against the mayor. Traffic was affected for a while because of this.
During the day, Jena and his supporters, including several councillors, took out a procession from his official residence at Unit-VIII to Master Canteen Square.
"I am not involved in any such activity and the person shown in the video is not me," said Jena.
Yesterday, the student's wing of the state Congress had alleged that Jena also had a hand in the murder of engineering student Asutosh Mohanty, alais Rishi, who also features in the controversial video along with a woman.
Jena today filed a defamation suit against the two and urged the court to impose a ban on broadcasting of the video. "I have filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against the two. Pradip Pandey has a tendency of defaming people. I expect justice and demand strong action against those who have tried to spoil my image," he said.
Acting on the complaint of the mayor, the police have issued notices to Pradhan and Pandey to appear before them. "We have written to the website for immediate removal of the video and also asked for the video recording of Itish's news conference for investigation. The video will be sent for forensic analysis," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.
Pandey, proprietor of the website Niankhunta.com, on the YouTube channel of which the video was published, claimed he had never said the person in the video was Bhubaneswar mayor. "We have clearly mentioned in the video that it is up to the viewers to decide who the people in the video were. Student Congress president Itish Pradhan might have concluded that the person in the video was the mayor," said Pandey.
