Bhubaneswar, Dec. 28: Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan today took a dig at chief minister Naveen Patnaik over his silence in the sex tape case allegedly involving mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Pradhan said the issue might damage the chief minister's image.

Talking to newspersons here, Pradhan also raised suspicion on the role of police in investigating the death of an engineering student involved in the controversial sex tape.

"The chief minister always feels proud of himself for strongly believing in justice. But why is he mum over the sex tape and the death of the engineering student? Why have the state police hushed up the death of the student for the past eight to nine months? The case came to light following pressure from media and the Opposition parties. Congratulations to Naveen babu for shielding and defending a burning charcoal like the mayor," said Pradhan.

On the other hand, BJD denied giving any protection to the mayor.

"The chief minister never shields anybody. The investigation is on and appropriate action will be initiated if anyone is found guilty," said spokesperson of the party Samir Ranjan Dash.

Both BJP and Congress have been demanding the scalp of Jena ever since the controversial sex tape surfaced.

Besides observing bandh and a shutdown in Bhubaneswar, BJP had even staged a demonstration in front of the office of the director-general of police after its supporters clashed with the ruling party activist during the protest on December 21.

The Congress is staging an indefinite dharna in front of the BMC office demanding Jena's ouster and a CBI probe into the case.

In a related development, National Students' Union of India (NSUI) state president Itish Kumar Pradhan and chief of a web portal, Pradeep Pandy, today appeared before a court here after being summoned in connection with a criminal defamation suit filed by Jena.

Sources said that the next hearing would be on January 3.

"We told the court that the video never defamed Jena. Besides, we also expressed our view that he (mayor) filed the defamation suit apprehending criminal proceedings against him and to delay the investigation into the death case of the engineering student," said Pandy's lawyer, Ashok Mohapatra.