Odisha: BJP seeks action against senior cop for ‘favouring ruling party’
Bhubaneswar: A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by ex-Odisha unit president Samir Mohanty on Monday lodged a complaint with the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) seeking action against senior police officers for “openly supporting” the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in violation of the instructions issued by the Election Commission (EC).
The party has specifically targeted DS Kutey, an Additional DG rank official, who is posted as special secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office for the last nine years.
The BJP alleged that the ruling party has “cunningly manipulated” the instructions of EC regarding the immediate transfer of the officers either posted in their home districts or have completed three years at a place.
“In a planned manner, he (Kutey) has been threatening the public officers mainly Superintendents of Police and IICs of police stations to favour the BJD in various ways including transport and distribution of cash in the Election,” the BJP said.
The party also alleged that police officers in the state were not registering FIR on complaints filed by opposition political parties.
The SPs and IICs have allegedly been seeking the permission of Kutey before registering any FIR and initiating investigation.
The BJP delegation demanded scrutiny of Kutey’s Call Detail Records by seizing his mobile phones to unearth how he is manipulating and monitoring election campaigns of the BJD in a clandestine manner.
They also sought Kutey’s transfer to ensure free and fair elections in the state.
Meanwhile, the BJD wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar alleging that BJP leaders and its candidates in the state have been giving transfer threats to various government officials on election duty by blatantly misusing the name of Election Commission, if the officials did not support BJP candidates.