BHUBANESWAR/ATHAGARH: An irate mob vandalised and set fire to a beat house at Banpur under Baramba range of Athagarh forest division on Monday after a villager detained by forest officials over an elephant poaching incident allegedly died in their custody.
While the police and district administration have managed to restore normalcy in the area, at least 15 forest staff of the division including two assistant conservators of forest (ACFs) and a ranger were detained in connection with the custodial death. The divisional forest officer (DFO) JD Pati has also been named in the FIR lodged by the victim’s wife, sub divisional police officer (SDPO), Athagarh, Bijay Kumar Bisi said.
According to reports, the 59-year-old Dhaneswar Behera of Satagochhia village under Baramba tehsil was taken into custody by the forest officials on Sunday in connection with poaching of a sub-adult elephant, carcass of which was recovered with a severed trunk and missing tusks from Haladiasuni reserve forest on January 30.
Behera, however, died under mysterious circumstances while in forest department custody following which irate villagers staged a road blockade at Badabaharsingh road on Monday. The matter soon flared up and a mob attacked the beat office and set it on fire.
As tension prevailed, SDPO Bisi, Baramba tehsildar and other senior officials rushed to the spot. Three platoons of police force were deployed to restore law and order. Normalcy returned after the forest officials reportedly agreed to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased and a job to his son, police sources said.
Additional SP Cuttack (Rural) Krushna Prasad Patnaik said a complaint was lodged by Behera’s wife Tulasi alleging that forest officials took him and beat him to death. “Basing on the complaint, a case has been registered under 302, 341, 294, 354 323, 365, 342 and other sections of IPC as well as the Atrocities Act. Athagarh SDPO is investigating the matter,” he said.
Custodial death slur on Athagarh forest officials
Tulasi alleged that the forest officials picked her husband when they were returning from their daughter’s house at around 7.30 pm on Sunday. Naming Athagarh DFO Pati, ACF Ghanshyam Muduli, ranger Subrat Behera and other forest staff in her FIR, she alleged that they took her husband to an undisclosed location.
In the morning she came to know in the hospital that he was brutally assaulted throughout the night which resulted in his death. Police also corroborated her complaint stating injury marks were found on the body of the deceased. “We found injury marks on hand and thigh of the deceased during the preliminary inquiry,” said the Athagarh SDPO.
Baramba police said they are also identifying those involved in vandalising and setting fire to the beat office. Meanwhile, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Debidutta Biswal said stringent action will be taken if any official is found to have applied third degree on Behera in custody. “We are waiting for the post-mortem and inquest reports to initiate appropriate action.” The PCCF said he had also asked the district collector to release immediate assistance to the family of the deceased from the district Red Cross Fund.