Bhubaneswar: Gopal Krishna Das, who killed Odisha minister Naba Kisore Das, had received one promotion and several rewards including citations 18 times during his service in the police department.
This was revealed by MoS (Home) Tusharkanti Behera in the Odisha Assembly on Monday.
Naba Das was killed by the now sacked police ASI Gopal Das on January 29. He had fired a bullet at the chest of the minister from a very close range. Though the police arrested the accused from the spot, it is yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder.
While replying to a question of BJP MLA Kusum Tete, Behera said Gopal Krishan Das had joined the police as a constable in Berhampur on July 8, 1992.
He was promoted to assistant sub-inspector post in 2009. After his promotion, Das served in different police outposts and police stations in Jharsuguda district for 13 years.
The MoS said Das was promoted once and received letters of appreciation 18 times and monetary rewards nine times.
In a written reply to a query of Congress MLA Narasingha Mishra, Behera said the Crime Branch investigation of the case is continuing.
In order to maintain transparency, fairness and absolute impartiality in the investigation, on the request made by the government of Odisha, Justice (retired) J.P. Das has been nominated by the Orissa High Court to monitor the investigation, Behera said.
On Mishra’s question on the appointment of the retired Orissa HC judge, the minister said, “Recently, Supreme Court had appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court to monitor the investigation in Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh on similar lines which may be treated as a precedence.”
During investigation, it was reported that the accused was suffering from some mental illness and hence the documents pertaining to the same were collected and verified. Later a psychiatric evaluation of the accused was carried out by a team of doctors, he added.
(IANS)
