Raghunath Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, March 26: Odisha police are under pressure to trace the whereabouts of former minister Raghunath Mohanty and his family members, who are facing allegations of dowry torture, sources said.

Even the BJD is finding it hard to defend Mohanty or explain the delay in his arrest. Government chief whip Pravat Tripathy said: “Mohanty is left with no legal option. He should either surrender before the police or take anticipatory bail. In the interest of the party, he should take one of these courses.”

Mohanty’s daughter-in-law Barsa Swony Choudhary had accused her husband Raja Shree and his family members, including his father, of harassing and torturing her for dowry. Although Raja Shree has been arrested and lodged in Balasore jail, his family members are missing.

The issue rocked the Assembly for the second consecutive day today with the Congress disrupting proceedings in protest against the police’s “brutal attack” on its workers, who were agitating on Monday demanding Mohanty’s arrest.

The House could run for barely 16 minutes today. The Congress legislators accused chief minister Naveen Patnaik of shielding Mohanty. “The chief minister should tender an apology for police excesses. Goonda raj (hooliganism) is going on in the state,” said leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh.

Later, senior minister Damodar Rout said: “The government is not shielding any one. The police are free to pursue its course of action.”

However, crime branch chief B.K. Sharma evaded questions on the issue. The human rights protection cell, which is probing the case, is under Sharma and the latter refused to answer queries from the media.

Legal experts said the police would arrest Mohanty if it felt that he was trying to abscond or tamper with evidence. “Cases related to dowry torture should not be politicised. The Supreme Court has already observed that the law related to the dowry cases is being more misused than used. The police will analyse all these things before proceeding in this sensitive case,” said a senior lawyer belonging to the ruling party.

Former law minister and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra said: “According to law, if there is sufficient evidence and the conditions laid down in Section 41 of the CrPC are fulfilled, in that event, he should be arrested. Otherwise, family disputes should be kept away from politics. The law has to take its own course. If despite evidence, the chief minister is protecting the ex-minister, the chief minister is liable to be prosecuted.”

With speculation of Mohanty’s possible surrender rife, journalists in Balasore spent the entire day keeping a vigil outside the local court. However, Mohanty remained elusive.

Barsa, however, reiterated her demand for the arrest of Mohanty, mother-in-law Preetilata Mohanty, sister-in-law Rupashree Madhual and her husband Suvendu Madhual.

In yet another development, the police are planning to provide jackets to the scribes, who would be covering law and order related developments. Yesterday, a reporter was beaten up near Naveen Nivas while covering the student Congress rally on the arrest of the former minister.

Director-general of police Prakash Mishra said: “A suggestion has come to provide jackets to scribes. If any other suggestion comes up, we will certainly look into it. However, inquiry will be conducted into the issue.”

According to the proposal, the jacket will carry the logo of the police and an assistant commissioner of police will be authorised to deal with the media.