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Ex-DGP's affidavit levels serious allegations against Orissa CM in molestation case

Anjana Mishra's molestation case against former Orissa advocate general Indrajit Ray has taken a new turn, with the then state director general of police Amiya Bhusan Tripathy alleging that Chief Minister J B Patnaik, Forest Minister Kishore Patel and the accused, Ray, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to scuttle the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In an 18-page affidavit filed before the Orissa high court on Wednesday, the former DGP contended that there was evidence of a criminal conspiracy right from the day Anjana filed an FIR against her IFS husband and sister-in-law in May last year at a Cuttack police station, charging them with torturing her for dowry and with intimidation.

The conspiracy continued even when their efforts misfired and the lady came out with a written complaint against advocate general Ray, charging him with attempted rape on July 11,1997, at his official residence in Bhubaneswar, Tripathy stated.

The former state police chief filed the affidavit following a direction from the high court in May last on a public interest litigation filed by a city-based journalist Kanhu Charan Mishra, who alleged that the CBI had chargesheeted the advocate general without examining key witnesses like the chief minister, and the then DGP, Tripathy, and that the original forensic report had been tampered with.

While agreeing to the petitioner's allegations against the CBI, Tripathy, who also exposed several other "misdeeds" of the people in power and authority in his sensational affidavit, urged the court that since his affidavit was against the might of the state, it must take a view on the safety and security of the deponent and his family.

Tripathy alleged that when Anjana came to the cantonment police station on July 19, 1997, to lodge her FIR against the then advocate general, the chief minister rang him up to register the case under Section 354 of the IPC only if at all it was necessary, and simultaneously the advocate general Ray called him up from London asking him not to register the case.

On August 21, 1997, when the CBI was investigating the case following the orders of the Orissa high court, the former DGP said he was summoned by the chief minister to his Cuttack residence and directed to ensure that the case be finally reported. He was further suggested that some CBI officers, particularly the SP, should be arrested by instituting criminal cases against them.

Tripathy said when he told the chief minister that it was not within his competence, he was asked to meet the CBI director in Delhi. "Later on, I heard from the then CBI director R C Sharma that there was a lot of pressure to close the case and finally report it," the affidavit revealed.

Referring to the high court's direction to him to file an affidavit relating to the discussions the CBI had with him in the molestation case against the advocate general, Tripathy claimed that there was no elaborate discussion regarding the case except for providing logistic facilities to the CBI like accommodation, transport and telephone to facilitate investigation of the case.

Tripathy also took serious exception to the counter- affidavit filed by the CBI in the case which stated that since the matter was elaborately discussed with the DGP, the agency did not consider it necessary to record his statement formally under Section 161 CrPC. "It is not understood as to how such a stand has been taken by the CBI," he said, adding that in fact , he had given enough hints to the CBI SP to wait till his retirement on October 31,1997 and then examine him, since it would not have been possible on his part to state several facts that would cause embarrassment to the government while he was in the extremely sensitive position of DGP.

The former DGP said he could not make a statement relating to the case earlier as neither did the CBI examine him under Section 161 of the CrPC, nor was there any judicial order directing him to make his statement. "Now I have got an opportunity to file an affidavit before the high court stating all the facts which are nothing but true," he said.

Referring to the state forensic science laboratory report which examined Anjana's clothes after her alleged attempted rape on her, Tripathy claimed that the report was clearly against the advocate general. But Ray had been able to manipulate the original report to a great extent in his favour.

Forensic science director P R Mohanty, who informed the then DGP Tripathy that the original report had been diluted , was then transferred only two months before his retirement, to the Orissa Forest Development Corporation as general manager (vigilance) against the advice of the DGP and the home department.

When two CBI officers from Calcutta came to Tripathy to enquire into the tampering with of the forensic report in May last, he found that various notings were made on the margin of the file putting the entire blame on the director Mohanty for the change of contents in the report.

Tripathy also alleged that emissaries of the chief minister and the accused, Ray, had offered the victim a job of her choice either in Bhubaneswar or in Delhi and also ready cash of Rs 500,000.

Tripathy said he was even told by former chief minister and Congress leader Nandini Satpathy that the advocate had met her and had requested her to prevail on Anjana not to press with the allegation. Ray was willing to do anything to arrive at a settlement with Anjana, but Satpathy refused to be a party to this, the former police chief said.

While narrating the sequence of events in the case, Tripathy alleged that the special branch inquiry into Anjana's petition to the chief minister was yet another circumstantial testimony to hush up the entire matter.

On the petition of Arti Mishra, who was entrusted with Anjana's security under the high court order, that the latter had reportedly told her that her complaint against the advocate general was not true and she gave such a complaint under pressure, Tripathy alleged that Arti Mishra's petition was prepared at the instance of the accused Ray, as he was given the prior information about the petition, by the advocate general himself with a request to take immediate follow-up action on it.

The former DGP said he was told that in her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, Arti Mishra had gone to the extent of stating that Anjana's clothes were torn by a razor, and not by force.

Tripathy said the extent to which a group of persons could go to suppress evidence against them and manufacture evidence in their favour, would be evident from this type of highly unethical activities.

Subsequently, he said, a case under Section 309 of the IPC for attempting to commit suicide was registered against Anjana Mishra by the in-charge of Nayapalli police station, despite opposition from the DIG and SP of Bhubaneswar. Both the chief minister and the advocate general telephoned the DGP several times to ensure that the case was registered against her, he alleged.

In his affidavit, the former DGP also took serious exception to the chief minister's directions to him to allow the DIG (central range) S N Swain to continue as investigating officer in Anjana Mishra's earlier dowry torture case, and orders to consult the advocate general in the matter. He contended that all these facts, though not based on records, were based on truth.

Tripathy said it was a Herculean effort on his part to withstand the avalanche of pressure and counter-pressure during those fateful days, more so when the deponent was going to retire in October 1997.

In another significant revelation in his affidavit , the former Orissa police chief claimed that the crime branch police was in possession of a tape-recorded statement of a lady which gave graphic description of how she was taken to the house of the chief minister for "perverse sexual acts".

Tripathy, who was IG (crime branch) from 1989 to 1992, said some women were caught soliciting by the crime branch. In important cases, the statements of the ladies were tape-recorded.

Stating that the then advocate general Ray was on friendly terms with him and used to discuss several things, including the habits and weaknesses of his own and that of the chief minister and others, Tripathy said at the relevant time, there was a lot of talk about the chief minister's visit to a particular lady. The advocate general had told him that he had taken that lady to the chief minister, the former DGP said.

UNI

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