Sons let heavyweight fathers down in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Politics and bureaucracy in Odisha have been beset with a strange phenomenon in which important personalities fell victim to the wrongdoing of their sons.

Two high profile cases among others are ex-minister Raghunath Mohanty and retired IPS officer Bidya Bhusan Mahanty who had to quit from their respective positions on account of the alleged misdeeds of their sons Raja Shree Mohanty and Bitihotra Mahanty respectively.

Raghunath Mohanty had been a minister in the Naveen Patnaik council of ministers since 2005. He was elected to the Assembly from Basta Assembly seat in Balasore district five times in a row since 1990.

However, Raghunath Mohanty had to resign as a minister and was stripped of the post vice-president in the face of a dowry torture allegation made by his daughter-in-law Barsa Swony Choudhury.

His son Raja Shree married Barsa barely nine months ago in June, 2012. Barsa filed an FIR against five persons including Mohanty, his wife Pritilata, son Raja Shree, daughter Rupashree and son-in-law Suvendu Madhual.

Besides Raja Shree, the ex-law minister and his wife Pritilata have been arrested and jailed for some days before being released on bail.

However, Mohanty's daughter Rupasree and his doctor son-in-law Suvendu Madhual went into hiding and finally secured anticipatory bail from Orissa High Court.

Interestingly, Raghunath Mohanty was arrested from a hideout in West Bengal by the police. Mohanty's escape was embarrassing for the Naveen Patnaik government as the issue rocked the Assembly several times.

Mohanty was a favourite of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as a minister and rose through party ranks and became one of the five vice-presidents of the ruling BJD.

B B Mahanty on the other hand faced damage to his career and image for allegedly helping his rape convict son Bitihotra nee Biti in jumping the parole.

He missed a golden chance to become the next director general of police in the state.

The retired IPS officier's son Biti was sentenced to seven years in jail after he was convicted for raping a German woman in Rajasthan.