Illicit Gems stone transactions: Congress & BJP demand Minister Jagannath and other BJD leaders to be taken to task
Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada,10/12/2020: Getting a tip off from reliable source, Jagannath Prasad Sahoo, Sub Inspector, Special Task Force, CID Crime Branch & staff from Bhubaneswar along with Rayagada police station staff conducted raid and apprehended one Jitendra Kumar Behera, 48 years,s/o-Gopala Krushna Behera of Bijabandali village under Ambadola police station in Muniguda block, at present staying at Jagannath Complex in Rayagada town.
He was arrested vide Rayagada PS case no-390 u/s-379/411 IPC r/w Sec.12 of Odisha Mineral Prevention of Theft, Smuggling & others (Unlawful Activities Act), 1988. Two gunny bags weighing 85 kg & 66 kg(containing semi precious stones appearing like Panna, Rubby, Topaz, Moonstone, Amethist, Turmulin, Rainbow, Quartz, Black Diamond were seized along with on Toyota Glanza car bearing regd. No-OD 18G 3355. According to a press release the approximate cost of these precious stones is rupees one crore. Behera was forwarded to court after initial interrogation.
The matter became complex when several intimate pictures of culprit Behera with Minister Jagannath Saraka, Rajya Sabha MP , N.Bhaskar Rao, Ex-MP Jhinna Hikaka, Minister Sudam Marandi, State Health Advisor , Sudhir Das, Tainted Gopalpur MLA of Pradip Panigrahi went viral in social media.
Durga Panda, District Congress President, during a press meet, showed these pictures and vociferously wanted to establish link of this precious stone smuggling with all the BJD leaders and demanded ouster and arrest of Minister Jagannath and action against all these BJD leaders. “This illicit activity is operating under a mafia nexus’, he said.
Similarly BJP leaders namely Basanta Ulaka, MLA candidate from Rayagada constituency, Siba Ulaka, MLA candidate from Bissam Cuttack Constituency and Shyam Dash, Rayagada Town President held a press conference and demanded that all these leaders must be taken to task as that of Gopalpur MLA Pradip Panigrahi.They stressed upon a CBI investigation to be instituted to further unearth several other links in this unlawful activity.
Minister Saraka opined that as people’s representative he had to be sociable with the public, more specifically the voters of his constituency. It is not possible to segregate culprits until unless they are proved to be so. Many people take photos with him considering him to be dignitary. If they capitalise on those photos, he is undone. “Linking me with the gems stone smuggling is just baseless. I come from a very simple background and maintain an ordinary life style. As far as people understand me, certification by Congress or BJP is just a part of political vendetta. I am open for any kind of investigation’, said Saraka.
This smuggling activity is going on for a long time in this district. Though action by police is applauded from several quarters, still there is a need to accelerate this process of nabbing others who are in this racket of law laundering.
