Odisha BJP leader killed, associate critical; police suspect past enmity

Kulamani Baral, BJP’s Salepur in-charge and former chairman of the Mahanga Panchayat Samity under Cuttack district was returning home with his associate Dibyasingh Baral on a bike when six men caught up with him at Jankoti on Shukanai embankment road.

A BJP leader in Odisha was allegedly killed by unidentified men over past enmity on Saturday evening.

The two men were immediately taken to the Mahanga Hospital where Baral was declared dead by doctors at the facility. His associate has been shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and is in a critical condition. (HT FILE PHOTO.)

Kulamani Baral, BJP’s Salepur in-charge and former chairman of the Mahanga Panchayat Samity under Cuttack district was returning home with his associate Dibyasingh Baral on a bike when six men caught up with him at Jankoti on Shukanai embankment road.

The men hacked the duo repeatedly leaving them seriously injured. Though the two of them were immediately taken to the Mahanga Hospital, Baral was declared dead by doctors at the facility. His associate has been shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and is in a critical condition.

Though the exact reason is not known, BJP Cuttack district unit president Prakash Behera alleged that BJD leaders were behind the attack.

In April 2019, a BJP leader in Khurda district was shot dead a day before PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the state during the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

BJP’s Khurda Mandal president Manguli Jena was shot dead by two scooty-borne men on April 14 night just outside the party office. The two men are yet to be arrested.