The Congress on Sunday alleged the role of BJD workers in the violence at its Thursday’s rally here and demanded an impartial probe into the incident.
The party, which had lodged two separate cases against the Bhubaneswar police and the state government, filed 15 more complaints against the police. All the new cases were filed by women workers of the party.
Most of the complainants alleged that they were brutally beaten up by the police during the rally at the instance of the deputy commissioner of police Nitinjit Singh.
Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters here, chairperson of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) media cell Narasingha Mishra said a statement of a senior Orissa minister proved that some BJD men had been sent to mingle in the crowd at the rally to trigger violence as part of a conspiracy to defame the Congress.
Mr Mishra said the minister, who also happens to be vice-president of the BJD, had told the media that some people raised slogans in favour of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the ruling BJD during Congress rally.
“In view of the minister’s statement, we suspect that BJD had hatched a conspiracy and sent its workers to indulge in violence. It was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of Congress,” Mr Mishra said.
Stating that it was now clear that the same BJD men had attacked the woman police personnel while a couple of Congress workers saved the lady cop and took her away, the Congress leader said the police woman was perhaps deployed at the site deliberately to create trouble.