Chhatrapur: State BJP leader Bhrugu Buxipatra failed to appear in Chhatrapur police station Saturday for questioning in the murder case of BJD councilor Lakshmidatt Pradhan of Chhatrapur NAC and sought time from the police citing ill health, police said.
This was stated here by sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ramesh Chandra Sethi Saturday. The matter came to the fore after his lawyer Partha Sarathi Nayak visited the police station and submitted a letter to the SDPO citing his inability to appear in the police station due to ill-health.
In the letter, Buxipatra sought a one month time from the police to appear in the case. While seeking time, he assured the cops to appear in police station after a month and cooperate with the police in its investigation.
In the letter, Buxipatra attached a prescription of a doctor of a private hospital in Cuttack which was submitted to the SDPO along with the letter. A team of police personnel comprising SDPO Sethy, Chhatrapur IIC Priya Ranjan Chhotray, Aryapalli Marine IIC Biswajit Kumar Rout and Rambha IIC Krushna Chandra Sethi were waiting in the police station to question Buxipatra when his lawyer reached the police station and handed over his letter.
Notably, the slain BJD councilor Pradhan was hacked to death in front of his house September 16, 2017. Notably, BJP’s state spokesperson Golak Prasad Mohapatra had also failed to appear in the police station for questioning February 7 on grounds of ill health.
The Chhatrapur police under clause 7 of Section-160 of CrPC had issued notices to Mohapatra and Buxipatra to appear in Chhatrapur police station February 7 and February 9 for questioning respectively January 28. Earlier, police had arrested 19 persons in this connection while two are out on bail.
Earlier, Mohapatra had appeared in the police station for questioning over a similar notice by police November 1, 2017. Two teams of police in two phases had questioned him for over three hours.
PNN