Bhubaneswar: Odisha's Pratap Chandra Sarangi aka Odisha's Modi who comes from a poor background took oath at the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi. The photos of a 64-year-old man believed to have come in the headlines on the mainstream media and social media. It is the man of Odisha's Pratap Chandra Sarangi who has reached the house by winning the Lok Sabha elections and has been made a minister in the Modi government.
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Sarangi's affidavit also reveals that seven criminal cases are under consideration against him. He is alleged of promoting hatred among different communities on the basis of religion, criminal intimidation and forced extortion. Most of these cases were registered during the BJP and BJD coalition government in Odisha.
In an incident of March 2002, when Sarangi was the state head of the Bajrang Dal, he was arrested by the Odisha police on charges of rioting, arson, assault and damaging government property.
In January 1999,when he was Bajrang Dal President , Autralian missionary, Graham stems, and two of his burnt by a 1 group belonging to the Bajrang Dal. Sarangi was questioned in the case and refused to attend. The prosecution did not interrogate him for a second time.
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While in an interview in February 1999, Sarangi refused to say that Bajrang Dal was involved in the murder of Graham stems and his sons. He also condemned the killing.
It may be mentioned that Pratap Chandra Sarangi has been MLA from the Nilgiri Assembly of Odisha in 2004 and 2009 before being elected as an MP. Earlier, he also stood in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but was then defeated .