BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Sunday placed under suspension an Assistant Commandant of the Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) for dereliction of duty in connection with the Sunki landmine blast.
Special Secretary of Home Department Lalit Das informed that Gopabandhu Tripathy, Assistant Commandant with the 4th SS Battalion, Malkangiri, headquartered at Koraput, has been suspended over the incident in which eight security personnel were killed on February 1.
Though the exact reason behind the suspension was yet to be ascertained, sources said, Tripathy was apparently responsible for arranging conveyance of the unit that was headed to Angul from Koraput for training purposes.
Instead of travelling by a private vehicle, which goes unmarked, the 13 security personnel were given a police van.
The injured five are receiving treatment at Seven Hills Hospital in Visakhapatnam.
The State Police Headquarters on Sunday announced that the injured would get `10 lakh from the Central Police Welfare Fund towards treatment. The `10 lakh would not be an assistance but a loan which has to be repaid in easy interest-free instalments.
The Central Police Welfare Fund is a fund pool to which every police personnel from DGP to the constable levels contribute. The contribution is made annually by way of one-day salary which is paid in two instalments. The Fund is managed by a Central Welfare Fund Committee of which ADG (Headquarters) Satyajit Mohanty is the convener.
The Sunki landmine blast is currently being investigated by the Crime Branch's Left Wing Extremist Section.