Bhubaneswar, June 10: Laxman Tudu, the Lok Sabha MP from Mayurbhanj, suddenly finds himself at the centre of an unsavoury controversy.

A namesake of Tudu, who was with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), had stopped going to work six months before his retirement was due but continued to draw his salary with the help of an impersonator he himself had planted. Interestingly, the personal details of the jawan, who shares his name with the MP, in the CRPF employees’ register, also matches that of the lawmaker.

The issue was brought to light by former MP and Utkal Bharata president, Kharvela Swain who got to know about fraudulent withdrawal of salary from the CRPF by an impersonator. The leader filed an RTI petition to ferret out more information in the hope of “exposing” Laxman Tudu, the MP who happens to be a rival.

Armed with the details Swain today called a press meet and levelled charges against the MP. Swain alleged that Tudu joined the CRPF on April 2, 1988, and had taken voluntary retirement on March 1, 2010, after winning the Lok Sabha election on a BJD ticket in 2009. And in the interim period the MP had managed to get one Salai Murmu to work in his name in the force.

“Tudu played a dangerous game with the CRPF and cheated everyone. After he won the Lok Sabha elections, he did not intimate the fact to the CRPF. He asked Salai Murmu to pose as Laxman Tudu and kept availing the benefits,” Swain said. Apparently a portion of the salary that the impostor drew was sent every month to the MP’s father, Dhyanchand Tudu.

The MP rubbished the allegations saying he was never employed with the CRPF. “Before joining politics in 1990s, I worked with National Aluminum Company (Nalco),” he said apparently embarrassed by the controversy.

Swain, however, is not convinced. “We got the information from the CRPF through RTI and it showed how Tudu had conned his employers,” he said, adding that the MP should immediately resign and that chief minister, Naveen Patnaik should sack Tudu from the party.

The MP lashed out at Swain calling the allegations baseless. “My father died in 1973. Where is the question of anyone sending him any money now? It seems he (Swain) has lost his mental balance after being facing rejection in politics”, said Tudu.