Naba Das murder accused Gopal Das undergoes narco test in Gujarat

By Sanjaya Jena

Jharsuguda, Feb. 9: The Crime Branch of Odisha police on Thursday got narco analysis of Gopal Das, the accused in minister Naba Kishore Das murder case, conducted at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Reports from Gujarat said, the narco test will be followed by a polygraph test of the accused. The polygraph test will be conducted later this evening or on Saturday, the report added.

Gopal Das, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of police, on January 29 gunned down the minister at Brajarajajangar in Jharsuguda district as he was alighting from his vehicle to inaugurate an office building there.

An eight-member team of Crime Branch has taken Gopal to Gujarat for the twin tests.

Earlier on Wednesday, the JMFC Court at Jharsuguda had allowed the Odisha Crime Branch to get the twin tests conducted on the dismissed police ASI.

The JMFC court also allowed the Crime Branch to take the accused on remand for five more days for further investigation into the case.

Initially, the court had allowed the Crime Branch to take accused Gopal Das on remand for four days soon after his arrest in connection with the incident.

The court had extended the remand period for four more days on February 4.

“The second remand period of Gopal Das ended Thursday. We sought the court permission to take him on further remand for more investigation into the case. The JMFC court has permitted us to take him remand for five more days,” said a CB official.

The accused police ASI was detained soon after he fired at the minister from his service revolver. Acting upon the direction of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Crime Branch of Odisha Police took over the probe on the same day while the accused was dismissed from service the next day.

Meanwhile, the High Court of Orissa on Thursday quashed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a CBI probe into the gruesome murder of the minister.

While an investigation by the State Crime Branch is underway into the high-profile murder case, the Bharatiya Vikash Parishad (BVP) had filed a petition seeking a CBI probe into it.

Taking up the petition for hearing, the court today said it will be ‘too early’ to hand over the case to the central probing agency.

Notably, the BVP had filed the PIL on February 6 and the State chief secretary, home secretary, Director General of Police (DGP), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Crime Branch were made respondents to the case.

At present, the Crime Branch investigation into the gruesome killing of the minister by sacked ASI Gopal Das is being monitored by retired Orissa High Court judge Justice JP Das.

Even though 12 days have passed, the probing agency is yet to make any headway into the case.