Click to play videoJaipur: A Jaipur court on Thursday stripped the Rajasthan police of the last legal fig leaf that it had as an excuse to not arrest Orissa top cop BB Mohanty. The court told the state police that there was no need for a warrant to arrest Mohanty. All it needed to do was to send a team to Orissa and bring Mohanty in.
This came as a dressing down for the Rajasthan police, which has all along been deferring its action on pretext of not having an arrest warrant against Mohanty.
Mohanty, a DGP-level police officer, has been accused of shielding his son Biti, a rape convict who jumped parole from Jaipur Central Jail more than five months back. Despite the court's order, neither the Rajasthan Government nor the state police looked very keen to arrest Mohanty.
"Obviously, there is no bar on the arrest even without the warrant. So we can send a team to arrest him. We can think of taking the matter in the higher court, the options are open. We are still examining them," OP Galhotra, IG of Rajasthan Police, says.
For almost six months now, this case has been an embarrassment for the Rajasthan Government. Not only did Biti, convicted by a fast-track court for rape, jumped bail and disappeared, the senior Mohanty also sees the Jaipur court's order as a breather.
"Even if they come here, they have to immediately grant him bail because the charges are bailable. They are bound to release him unless they mischievously adds some more offence in it. At the same time when Section 130 is not made out against him, I doubt the intention of the Rajasthan police on putting this charge initially," BB Mohanty's lawyer Ashok Mohanty claims.
The court has reserved its judgment on the police's plea for warrants against Biti till Saturday. However, during the past five months, it's been systematically ensured that the focus be shifted from Biti Mohanty, the original offender, to his father. Biti has been on the run for about six months now and the police have no clue on his whereabouts.
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