CUTTACK: Lalbag police on Monday arrested four persons for allegedly manhandling ACP Ananya Awasthi, a 2020-batch IPS officer, during an enforcement drive against bursting of firecrackers beyond the permissible 9 pm limit, in the city on Sunday night.
The accused are Binay Agrawal (32) and Mohit Nangalia (22) of Nayasadak, Krishna Soni (20) of Upper Telenga Bazar and Yash Choudhury (23) of Kaligali. Police said all of them are shopkeepers. The incident occurred in Nayasadak locality.
As per report, an argument broke out between local shopkeepers and police when the latter asked them to stop bursting crackers beyond the permissible time as per guidelines. The argument soon escalated into a scuffle between the two parties, triggering tension in the locality.
Sources said despite police’s instructions, the local shopkeepers allegedly paid no heed and continued bursting the crackers on the road. When ACP Awasthi, who was at the site to oversee enforcement, intervened and tried to enforce the timing, a group of people allegedly manhandled her. Videos of the same went viral on social media.
Following the incident, additional police force was deployed at the spot to prevent further escalation. On the day, police examined the CCTV footage and videos circulated online, identified the accused and arrested the four. DCP Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo said the number of arrests are expected to increase.