Cop Who Shot Dead Odisha Minister Naba Kishore Das Had Tried To Kill Him Five Times In Two Weeks
Odisha Police assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gopal Das, who was arrested for the murder of state Health minister Naba Kishore Das had a "clear intention" to kill him, investigators have claimed.
According to the Odisha Police Crime Branch, Gopal Das had made at least five unsuccessful attempts to kill the minister in the past two weeks.
Waited outside residence with loaded gun
He reportedly waited in the vicinity of Naba Das's residence at Sarbahal in Jharsuguda with a loaded gun and tried to learn from people in the neighbourhood if the minister was inside or travelling.?
Gopal Das got his chance on Sunday when he was deployed for traffic clearance duty for a programme that the minister was to attend.
"All of a sudden, ASI Gopal Das of Gandhi Chowk Police Outpost, who was deployed for traffic clearance duty for the programme, came close to minister N K Das and opened fire from his service pistol from a very close range aiming at the minister with a clear intention to kill him," Brajrajnagar Police Station inspector-in charge (IIC) Pradumnya Kumar Swain, who was present at the site when the firing happened, said.
What happened on Sunday
Swain, who sustained a bullet injury on his ring finger from the second round allegedly fired by the ASI, said that police officers/ men of different units were mobilized and deployed on January 29, 2023 from 10.30 am onwards to discharge their duties in traffic arrangement, law and order, escort and pilot duty and others for the minister's programme".
"At about 12.15 pm the car of minister Naba Kishore Das stopped near the building and he got down of the vehicle after opening the front side passenger door of the vehicle. All of a sudden, ASI Das of Gandhi Chowk Police Outpost, who was deployed for traffic clearance duty for the programme, came close to the minister and opened fire from his service pistol from a very close range aiming at him," Swain said.
Kishore Das, the Health and Family Welfare Minister of Odisha since 2019, succumbed to bullet injuries in a hospital.
It was found that a single bullet had entered and exited the body, injuring the heart and left lung and causing massive internal bleeding and injury.
Act of revenge?
According to the police, the murder was an act of revenge after the minister did not respond to some personal requests made by the ASI, including a job for a close relative and his transfer to a police station near his hometown.
Das, who joined Odisha Police as a constable on July 8, 1992 in Ganjam district, was promoted to the post of Assistant Sub-Inspector ASI on September 9, 2009, and has a good track record in the service book. The record said he had won at least 18 medals for conducting proper investigations in different cases in the past.
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