HC seeks response from Berhampur SP on ‘comments’ linking murder probe to election plea

Cuttack: Orissa high court on Friday sought an explanation from the Berhampur SP over his reported public comments linking an ongoing probe into the murder of advocate and BJP member Pitabash Panda to an election petition pending before the court.The direction came from the bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra, which was hearing an election petition filed by Manoj Kumar Panda, a voter who has challenged the election of BJP MLA K Anil Kumar from Berhampur assembly constituency.During the hearing, Panda submitted an affidavit alleging that he was illegally detained and interrogated by police officers about the petition. The affidavit stated that “while returning from the railway station to his house” on Oct 22, “three police personnel without uniform forcibly picked him up in a police vehicle and took him to police barrack where they detained him” till Oct 24 “and interrogated him about the election petition, particularly asking him as to why he had filed the election petition against the sitting MLA of Berhampur”.The court ordered that the affidavit be placed on record and directed that a copy of it, along with the HC’s order, be served to A R Dash, additional govt advocate, to obtain instructions from the state authorities. Senior advocate Gopal Kumar Agarwal represented Panda, while senior advocate B Bhuyan appeared on behalf of Kumar.During the proceedings, the bench’s attention was drawn to a report published in an English newspaper on Oct 23, attached to an interlocutory application in the case.

The report quoted the Berhampur SP from a press conference where he allegedly said, “During the investigation, an election petition emerged as a common link between Bikram Panda and Shiva Shankar Das. The petition was filed on May 19, 2024, against sitting BJP MLA K Anil Kumar of Berhampur.

It was filed in the name of a helper who works at Dash’s residence. In reality, it was filed by Dash himself. The legal expense and advocate fees for ‘pursuing the election petition were being borne by Bikram Panda’.”Taking serious note of the remarks, Justice Mishra observed that “if true, it is indeed disturbing to observe that a police officer as senior as the SP chose to publicly comment on an ongoing election dispute before this court”.The bench noted that counsels from both sides claimed a video of the press conference was available, allegedly showing the SP commenting on the possible outcome of the petition — something the court called “entirely unwarranted”.Calling for an explanation, Justice Mishra said: “This court therefore deems it proper to call for an explanation from the SP, Berhampur… as to why such conduct shall not be treated as contempt of this court.”The SP has been directed to file his explanation by Nov 7, when the matter will be taken up again.