Cuttack: The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Salpeur in Cuttack on Saturday sought call detail records (CDRs) of three persons, who are allegedly associated with the Mahanga double murder case.
The court asked the Mahanga Police to submit the CDRs of late Prafulla Biswal, Block Chairman Sharat Naik, and Law Minister Pratap Jena’s Private Assistant Bapi Biswal.
Informing about the court’s directive, Counsel of petitioner Ramakant Baral, Pravin Kanungo said the court expressed unhappiness over Mahanga Police’s failure to submit a progress report on the fresh probe into the double murder case.
The police complaint filed by deceased BJP leader Kulamani Barala’s son Ramakant Barala had pointed fingers towards the Law Minister accusing him of conspiring to murder Kulamani Baral and his associate Dibya Singh Baral.
The court had directed the Mahanga Police, in August, to carry out a fresh probe into the double murder case. Since the Law Minister’s name was not mentioned in the charge sheet despite accusations being leveled against him, the court ordered a fresh probe.
According to the case diary, on January 2 evening, Kulamani Baral and Dibya Singh Baral were critically injured after being attacked by some miscreants with sharp weapons near Jankoti in Cuttack district when the duo was returning home on a motorcycle.
The two were rushed to the Mahanga Community Health Centre (CHC), where doctors declared Kulamani brought dead while Dibya Singh was shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital. Dibya Singh succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at the SCB hospital.
Around one month later Prafulla Biswal, one of the accused in the double murder case was found dead on a road near Tangi.
Sources said Prafulla Biswal had called up Ramakant Baral expressing his fears of being killed, a few days before his body was found in Tangi.
