Mallika Dureja
Reason for the death is still unknown, according to a sub-divisional police officer in Odisha
Naba Kisore Das, a senior BJD leader and the Minister of Health and Family Welfare for the state of Odisha, died in the hospital on Sunday evening, hours after a police officer shot at him at point-blank range in Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda district.
Police sources say that Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Gopal Das shot at Minister Naba Das at Gandhi Chowk near the town of Brajrajnagar at 12:15 p.m., just minutes before the minister was to go to a programme. The accused, who worked at the Gandhi Chowk police outpost, killed the minister in front of police officers and supporters of the minister.
The Sub-Divisional Police Officer in Brajrajnagar, Gupteswar Bhoi, said that the reason for the killing is still unknown and is being looked into.
“Saddened by the untimely death of Minister in Odisha Government, Shri Naba Kishore Das Ji. In this sad time, our thoughts are with his family. Om Shanti.”
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “He was a person from the ground up. Everyone loved and respected him, no matter what party or group of people they belonged to. The State of Odisha has lost a lot with his death.” Patnaik went to the hospital where the minister was being treated earlier.
Arun Bothra, who is in Jharsuguda to oversee the investigation as ADG of Crime Branch, said that the suspect has been caught. The Crime Branch has set up a seven-person Special Investigation Team to look into the case. The team includes cyber and ballistics experts, among other things.
On videos of the incident, ASI Das can be seen walking up to Naba Das’s car and firing his service revolver as the minister gets out of the car. As the minister falls to the ground, his followers help him get back into the car.
He was taken to the district hospital in Jharsuguda and then flown to the Apollo Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Apollo Hospital said in a statement that the minister was taken there with “gunshot wounds to the left chest.”
“…one bullet had gone into and out of the body, hurting the heart and left lung and causing a lot of bleeding and damage inside the body.” The wounds were fixed, and steps were taken to help the heart beat better. He was given urgent ICU care. But despite everyone’s best efforts, he could not be saved, and his injuries killed him,” said a statement from the hospital.
Inspector General of the North Range, Deepak Kumar, said that a preliminary investigation showed that the suspect fired two shots at the minister and two more at the police officers who tried to stop him. Another person was hurt in the accident and taken to a Jharsuguda hospital.
The accused man’s wife told reporters in Berhampur that her husband was a “psychiatric patient” who had been taking medicine for the past seven or eight years. She said that in 2012, her husband was given the rank of ASI and sent to the Jharsuguda district.
Senior police officers, on the other hand, wouldn’t say anything about the ASI’s mental health and said they were looking into the matter.
Saddened by the unfortunate demise of Minister in Odisha Government, Shri Naba Kishore Das Ji. Condolences to his family in this tragic hour. Om Shanti.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 29, 2023
There was a lot of tension in Jharsuguda, odisha because supporters of Naba Das held a dharna over the incident. Das was an MLA from Jharsuguda three times, but in January 2019, months before the general and Assembly elections, he switched from the Congress to the BJD. He is one of the wealthiest ministers in Naveen Patnaik’s cabinet. His assets, including those in the name of his wife, are worth Rs 34 crore.
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After an autopsy was done on Das’s body at Bhubaneswar’s Capital Hospital late Sunday night, his body was taken to the Assembly building, where MLAs paid their respects.
