court of odisha
– Photo : istock
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A court in Odisha’s Cuttack district has prima facie found that a case of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code is made out against ruling BJD MLA Pratap Kumar Jena in the January 2021 murder case of two BJP leaders. Jena is the MLA from Mahanga assembly constituency.
Salepur Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court on Monday took cognizance of the case after perusing the complaint, statements of witnesses and other available materials on record. The court also took note of the MLA’s protest petition in this regard. Since special courts have been set up in the state by order of the Supreme Court to hear cases against MLAs and MPs, the Salepur JMFC court transferred the case to the special additional district and sessions court in Bhubaneswar for hearing.
Eight people were named in the murder case, one is dead
Local BJP leaders – Mangha block president Kulmani Baral (82) and his aide Divyasingh Baral (75) were killed after they exposed the corrupt practices of the local ruling party MLA, who was the then law minister of the state. Eight people, including Jena, were named in the FIR lodged by Kulmani’s son. Prafulla Biswal, the main accused who was absconding in this case, was crushed by a heavy vehicle on the national highway, after which he was found dead under mysterious circumstances.
