A day after the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSAA), a forum for the State’s Right to Information (RTI) activists, alleged that 74 police personnel were deployed for the protection of V. K. Pandian, Chairperson, 5T (Transformational Initiatives), the State police administration on Saturday said there was no veracity in the claim.
“We have not supplied any information under the RTI Act that talks about security cover provided to Chairperson of 5T (Transformational Initiative) to the applicant,” Prateek Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar, said on Saturday.
Mr. Singh is also the designated public information of officer under the RTI Act for the Commissionerate Police here. “We are assessing the veracity of the purported letter which is claimed to be in existence,” he said.
In a press conference conducted by the OSAA here on Friday, Prakash Chandra Dash, an RTI activist who had sought information on the security cover around the 5T Chairperson, asserted that the Reserve Inspector of Police, Bhubaneswar had informed that two armed Sub Inspectors, 11 havildars, 53 constables, and four women constables, in addition to a protection vehicle, were deployed for Mr. Pandian’s security in response to his RTI application.
When contacted about the rebuttal by the Bhubaneswar Police, the activist claimed he had enough proof to show that such a letter had originated.
After the issue triggered a major controversy, a delegation of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday submitted a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer, seeking withdrawal of the heavy security around Mr. Pandian. The delegation said it was a violation of the model code of conduct. Members demanded the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) should shoulder the financial burden towards the deployment of so many security personnel for “a BJD worker”.
