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BJP to send 3-member committee to Odisha over Kalahandi teacher murder case
The committee, comprising Sunita Duggal, Vanathi Sriniwasan and Rupa Mitra, is expected to visit the place of the incident and also hold an interaction with the people of the area.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has formed a three-member committee to look into the murder of a school teacher in Odisha's Kalahandi district, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday. The committee, comprising Sunita Duggal, Vanathi Sriniwasan and Rupa Mitra, is expected to visit the place of the incident and also hold an interaction with the people of the area.
In an official statement, the BJP said that its national president JP Nadda condemned the ghastly incident in Kalahandi district.
Also Read| BJP, Cong keeps up pressure on Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik govt over Kalahandi case
On October 19, a partially-charred body of a 26-year-old teacher Mamita Meher was found in an under-construction stadium of a private school in Kalahandi.
Meher had gone missing on October 8. Officials told the Hindustan Times earlier that the teacher accused Gobind Sahu, the president of Sunshine School's managing committee, of running a sex racket in the premises and had reportedly threatened to expose his wrongdoings.
Gobind Sahu was arrested last week on charges of allegedly killing Mamita Meher, and was sent to judicial custody at the end of his five-day police remand on Monday.
The BJP and the Congress, which are the main opposition parties in Odisha, have demanded the resignation of state home minister Dibya Shankar Mishra by alleging that he was close to Gobind Sahu.
The BJP, meanwhile, alleged that the teacher was raped by Sahu during Mishra’s reported frequent school visits. The opposition party has also demanded the minister's arrest.
“An innocent woman in the Kalahandi was murdered and her body was mutilated. We believe that the nation should come to know about this heinous murder,” BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra said on Tuesday, according to ANI.
Highlighting that a sex racket was being operated from the school premises, Patra said that innocent girl students and teachers were being exploited, while alleging that Odisha home minister Mishra had prior information about this racket.
"Somewhere the police knew that a minister is involved in this. So, the police was hesitant to register the FIR. When there was pressure from the Opposition parties, the police had to register an FIR," the BJP leader further said.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha has refused to take any action against state home minister Mishra, and insisted that he should not be held responsible for any crime committed by Sahu.
