BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police was left red-faced after a video of additional CP Narasingha Bhol directing the police personnel to break the legs of the youth Congress workers, who were protesting near Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s residence on Sunday, if they attempted to breach the last barricade erected there, went viral.
In the video, Bhol could be seen walking to the last barricade and instructing the police personnel to break the legs of the protesters who reached till there. “If anybody reaches here, break their legs. Do not catch them, just break their legs. We are standing at a distance to catch them.
Whoever breaks a leg, come to me and take a reward,” he said. Terming Bhol’s instructions to the cops as provocative, Odisha Pradesh Youth Congress president Ranjit Patra and other party workers lodged a complaint with Capital police demanding stringent action against the senior police officer as per law.
Meanwhile, speaking to TNIE, Bhol said his comment was taken out of context.
“I just asked the police personnel to remain prepared if the protesters turned violent,” he added.
The youth Congress workers on Sunday staged protest near the chief minister’s residence over the alleged mismanagement during Rath Yatra in Puri and the death of three devotees during a stampede near Gundicha Temple in the wee hours of the day.