BHUBANESHWAR: In a show of police failure in the State Capital, a group of hooligans, displaying scant respect for the law, went on the rampage at Saheed Nagar Police Station in heart of the State Capital over a road rage brawl around midnight on Sunday.
Not only those involved in the mishap were brutally assaulted near the police station, but the attackers also did not spare the policemen on duty and ransacked the premises, smashing television sets and other furniture.
Twelve hours hence, not a single person has been arrested. "Such an incident is not acceptable at all. Strong action would be initiated against those involved basing on CCTV camera footage,” Police Commissioner of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Satyajit Mohanty.
At the centre of this was apparently a group that owed allegiance to a ruling Biju Janata Dal leader which explains why the police did not take immediate action and let them go away in the first place.
It all started when over a brawl between two groups after three persons on a motorcycle were hit by a car near DL Colony on late Sunday evening. The three chased the four-wheeler and intercepted its driver at VSS Nagar. There was a heated exchange between the car driver and the three after which the former called BJD leader Prakash Tripathy to the spot. Tripathy happens to be a vice president of BJD’s youth wing.
Saheed Nagar Police received a call at about 11.45 pm that two groups had indulged in a fight at VSS Nagar. A PCR vehicle reached the spot and sent the injured persons to a hospital. Tripathy and his associates went to the police station and lodged a complaint against the three. The situation worsened when the PCR van came from the hospital with the three injured. The miscreants, who had positioned themselves near the police station, dragged the three out of the vehicle and thrashed them again.
The cops rushed to their rescue but were outnumbered. One of the anti-socials hit assistant Sub Inspector Abhay Kumar Rout with a brick, while another hurled a flower pot at IIC Biranchi Pati. However, the IIC managed to escape unhurt. The group went on to run amok inside the police station. However, the cops failed to detain even a single person involved in this riot act.
The police have registered three cases in this regard including a case basing on the complaint of Rout. “I have named Tripathy, his nine associates and 25 others in the complaint,” Rout told the newspaper. According to police, many locals residing in Pathara Bandha Basti had accompanied Tripathy to the police station.
Police Commissioner Mohanty said, police has identified the miscreants basing on CCTV footage and action would be taken.