BHUBANESWAR: An inspector ranked officer of Jagatsinghpur who was part of birthday cake-cutting of an accused in his office chamber has been pulled up for his bizarre action and served a ‘displeasure letter’ by the IG.
The incident which took place in Paradip Model police station in Paradip town last month was caught on video and went viral.
In a ‘displeasure letter’ to inspector-in-charge of Paradip Model police station Kabuli Barik, Central Range IG Praveen Kumar stated his explanation submitted to Jagatsinghpur SP on May 24 regarding the incident was unsatisfactory.
Barik had defended himself claiming he was in contact with two persons, Bapu Mishra and Manoj Behera who were earlier booked by Model police station, to receive intelligence from them.
According to the letter, Mishra was booked under section 142 of BNS (keeping in confinement a person who has been kidnapped or abducted) on April 29 this year and two cases were registered against Behera in 2008 and 2009.
In his explanation to Jagatsinghpur SP, the inspector said Mishra and Behera came to his office chamber with a cake on May 16 evening. Since it happened to be Mishra’s birthday, Barik said he entertained them on ‘humanitarian grounds’.
“On humanitarian point of view and to establish good public relation, I offered them two chairs. In course of exchange of sympathetic words, Mishra cut the cake brought by him. Without any ulterior motive, we shared the cake with each other,” he added.
Kumar’s letter stated that Barik’s justification of cutting the cake along with the two persons accused in criminal cases in exchange of advance intelligence was not satisfactory.
“Sources should be handled confidentially and discreetly and cannot be displayed in public. Sacrosanctity of the institution of police station being a public office should be maintained. Your above conduct of being seen cutting a cake with an accused person against whom a case has been registered in your police station is unbecoming of a police officer. Such conduct has brought disrepute to the image of the police,” read Kumar’s strongly-worded letter to Barik.
The IG also expressed his displeasure for the inspector’s conduct and cautioned against such acts in the future. Kumar also informed DGP YB Khurania about the incident.