Kendrapara, May 22: Security has been beefed up in Aul Assembly constituency following the murder of a BJD activist here on Monday.

Tension continues to prevail in the area as the assailants are still at large.

Things have taken a murkier turn with police registering a case against the newly-elected Congress MLA Debendra Sharma and six of his supporters in connection to the incident.

To complicate the matter further, district BJD president and former minister Pratap Keshari Dev faces charge of setting a dwelling house on fire in Gandasahi village.

In a close fight, Dev had lost the polls to Congress’s Sharma by more than 3,503 votes.

A police complaint has accused the BJD chief of arson and a case has been registered under Section 438 of the Indian Penal Code against him and six other BJD workers.

The general election had made the atmosphere tension-prone in this sensitive constituency.

There is no letup on tense situation arising of intense political rivalry between the BJD and Congress.

“On May 19, Ranjit Nayak of Kaanrapur village was hacked to death allegedly by a group of Congress supporters. Ramesh Nayak, the father of the deceased, had filed a complaint in Aul police station alleging that the newly elected MLA, Sharma, along with six Congress supporters, brutally killed his son. A case has been registered in this connection and we are investigating into it,” said inspector of Aul police station Umashankar Moharana.

Sharma, however, refuted the allegation: “It is a political conspiracy hatched by the BJD to drag me and my party into the murder case.

The deceased was a notorious criminal and was arrested three years ago in a murder case. He might have been murdered over some other reason.”

On the other hand, defeated BJD candidate Dev alleged that the deceased was a BJD supporter which was why some Congress supporters killed him. Dev demanded strong action against the accused person.

On April 19, Aul had witnessed post-poll violence as Arjun Rout, a BJD supporter, was killed and four others had been injured following an attack by rival Congress workers.

“The police are keeping a close watch on the situation. Patrolling has been intensified in sensitive pockets. No untoward situation has been reported in the past 24 hours,” said Kendrapara police superintendent Rabi Narayan Behera.