A group of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel unleashed a reign of terror on the residents of Sahid Nagar here during Diwali celebrations on Tuesday night. The paramilitary force personnel allegedly went berserk and attacked members of a family who objected to their high-handedness.
The victims reported the matter to the police, but instead of taking action, the latter tried to water down the incident in a clear bid not to antagonise the para-military force against whom it could do precious little.
The incident occurred at about 10 pm when an SUV, belonging to a senior officer of the ITBP, allegedly knocked down the bike of Anish Rajguru, a youth, who was visiting his uncle Bibhuti Mishra near Alok Bharti Tower. When he protested, the driver of the SUV allegedly hurled abuses at him.
Anish’s cousin Anubhav Mishra came to his rescue and both the sides had an altercation.
A 50-strong group of the ITBP, which has its barrack in Surya Kiran building located close by, then came in and allegedly manhandled Anish and Anubhav. The para-military force personnel did not stop at that. They chased them to their house where they allegedly manhandled other family members.
Armed with lathis, the ITBP men terrorised the family members when the police reached the spot following a call from the Mishra family.
However, instead of taking the errant ITBP men to task, the police officer tried to take their side and persuaded the members of Mishra family not to press any charges against them saying that nothing could be done against them.
Sahid Nagar police dismissed it as a minor incident over an altercation. DIG, ITBP, Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra said the face-off took place because Rajguru took away the keys of the SUV. It was a minor issue, but it is being looked into, he said.
This is not the first time that ITBP has been accused of such behaviour. In the past too, they have had face-off with locals resulting in resentment in the residential area.
The building, where the ITBP has its barrack, belongs to Bhubaneswar Development Authority and is meant for commercial purposes. The location of the barrack there has the locals up in arms because of their frequent unruly behaviour.
However, the highhandedness of the Central para-military force such as CRPF, CISF and ITBP is nothing new.
Years ago, the CRPF had gone berserk on more than one occasions at the local market area near CRP Square.