The Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gopal Krushna Das, the assassin who allegedly shot dead the former health minister Naba Kisore Das in Jharsuguda district on 29 January, is incidentally a decorated officer, winning appreciation and reward from the Odisha police 45 times in his 31-year-old stint as a policeman.
If Tusharkanti Behera, the minister of state for Home’s reply to a query is any indication, Das, who was recruited in the Police force in 1992, had an excellent track record for investigation and good work in policing.
Since 1993, he had been praised by the Odisha Police 45 times, Behera said while replying to a question of BJP member Kusum Tete in the Assembly.
Gopal Krushna Das was recruited in Odisha police on 8 July, 1992 as a constable in Berhampur. He was promoted to Assistant Sub Inspector of Police in 2009 and was posted in different police stations and police outposts in Jharsuguda district till his arrest in the murder case on 29 January.
During his 31-year stint in service, he was conferred a good service (GS) mark on 18 occasions and received cash incentives on 9 occasions. Besides, he was conferred certificates of merit of meritorious performance in the police job as many as 18 times.
The police officer had gunned down the health minister while the latter was stepping out of his vehicle to attend a public meeting at Gandhi Chowk on 29 January. The government handed over the probe to the state Crime Branch.
The opposition members alleged that the Crime Branch was attempting to prove that Gopal Das was a mental patient so that he could escape punishment.
The minister’s murder case was also raised during the Zero Hour in the Assembly where Congress members Taraprasad Bahinipati and Santosh Singh Saluja demanded an SIT probe into the killing.