Huge Relief For Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahi As Court Acquits Him In Five Job Fraud Cases

The BJP MP said he finally got justice and the previous BJD government had framed him in all the cases.

Berhampur: Berhampur MP and former Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi (61) was exonerated of all charges against him over alleged job fraud in Tata Motors.

On Tuesday, the JMFC (Rural) Court acquitted Panigrahi, former IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash in two cases. Similarly, on Wednesday the Berhampur police acquitted him in three other cases. The cases were filed against him at Golangthara police station area of Ganjam district. After the acquittal, the BJP MP said he finally got justice and the previous BJD government had framed him in these cases.

Why were multiple cases filed against Panigrahi

Multiple cases were filed one after the other against the then Gopalpur MLA who was once a close confidante of former Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik. As per Pradeep, who had previously spoken out in the media about this, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the then Sorda MLA Purna Chandra Swain of Ganjam district fell ill, he called on Naveen and spoke to him about the state government's management of the pandemic. This had irked some senior officials close to Naveen and they had planned to keep Panigrahi away from the former Chief Minister. Panigrahi was then accused of duping educated youths of his constituency by promising them jobs in Tata Motors. Four cases were registered at Golangthara police station and one at Baidyanathpur police station in Berhampur city in this regard.

Five cases were registered against Panigrahi

Five cases were registered in Berhampur police district against Panigrahi for duping youths by promising them jobs in Tata Motors. On Tuesday, the former Gopalpur MLA along with Abhay and Akash were acquitted by the court in two cases. The Berhampur JMFC Rural Court acquitted Panigrahi, Abhay and Akash in the case registered at Golangthara police station (No 2225/2020) and in the case registered at Baidyanathpur police station (No 511/2021). The case at Baidyanathpur police station was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Karthik Pradhan and the one at Golanthara on the bases of complaint filed by Laxmi Nayak.

Similarly, the verdict in three other cases was pronounced on Wednesday. The court also upheld the order in the three cases registered at Golangthara police station (GR 2298/21, GR 62/21 and GR 568/21). In one of the cases, Pradeep's associate, retired professor Nayanat Sarveshwar Rao was an accused but he has passed away. In another case, the Orissa High Court ordered the exclusion of Pradeep's brother from the list of accused. Now that all the cases have concluded, trial of two others, one with the Vigilance and the other with Crime Branch, has started in the Bhubaneswar court, said Pradeep's lawyer Deepak Patnaik.

Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahi with his lawyer Deepak Patnaik (ETV Bharat)

Friend turned foe

Panigrahi, who was once a prominent leader of the Ganjam unit of BJD, was expelled from the regional party which labelled him as an anti-people leader. As he fell out of the party's grace, five cases were registered against him in Berhampur. This apart, a case was registered in capital Bhubaneswar for amassing assets disproportionate to known source of income, and another was registered by the Crime Branch. He was taken away from his government quarters in the capital and spent six months in jail. In addition, Panigrahi was in news for his contact with Abhay and his son.

How were Pradeep and others acquitted?

In four cases registered at Golanthara police station, the complainants refused to give any statement to the court. The complainants said they did not know anything about the complaints and had only signed a pre-prepared statement because it was sent in writing and printed by the police. This rendered all the cases against Panigrahi irrelevant, said Patnaik.