CUTTACK: As 2025 draws to a close, Cuttack stands at the crossroads of reflection and reckoning. Beyond the bustle of daily life, the city witnessed a series of incidents that have not only shaken the society but also exposed the gaping loopholes in enforcement of law and order.
On the night of October 3 as Durga idol immersion ceremony was underway, Cuttack witnessed what it hadn’t in over three decades - communal violence. The incident left three cops including DCP Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo and around 10 more people injured.
What followed was arson, a 36-hour curfew, internet shutdown and call for Cuttack bandh by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), tarnishing the city’s long-standing image of Bhaichara (brotherhood). The situation remained tense for several days. It was only after the appeals by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi that peace was restored in the city.
The same night as Dussehra celebrations were underway, two under-trial prisoners of Choudwar Jail who had been arrested for robbery at a jewellery shop and murder of two persons at Panikoili in Jajpur, managed to flee the prison by breaking their cell and scaling the boundary wall. The incident brought to fore serious lapses in security arrangements at the jail. Interestingly, two months have passed by the two hardcore criminals are yet to be nabbed.
On November 8 evening, three members of a family including 60-year-old Abdul Jalil, his son Abdul Jahid (30) and grandson Abdul Mujahid (4) were crushed to death after the balcony of an old apartment in Manisahu Chowk locality came crushing down on their asbestos-roofed house. The probe panel constituted to investigate the incident flagged gross violation of building plan of the said apartment.
The Special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET)-2025 for in-service primary and upper primary school teachers across the state which was scheduled to be held on July 20 was cancelled by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, just hours before commencement of the examination after images of handwritten question papers started circulating on social media. This left over 75,000 candidates slated to write the test, in shock and dismay.
What was even more shocking was the involvement of insiders in the corrupt activity, one among whom was BSE vice-president Nihar Ranjan Mohanty. The Crime Branch of Odisha Police which was investigating the case, also arrested seven more persons including teachers, teacher union leaders, a board employee and a broker.
Similarly on May 3, three persons including site engineer Soumya Ranjan Mallick, workers Shiba Sankar Patnaik of Balasore and Subhas Chandra Bhakta of West Bengal were killed and two others critically injured after a concrete slab which was being lifted by a crane fell on them during construction of a bridge near Khannagar. Investigation revealed the incident occurred due to lack of inspection and supervision by the officials concerned.
In another heart-rending incident on February 28, a widower Manas Ranjan Das (50) of Golapur in Kendrapara who had been staying in a rented flat in the city, allegedly killed his physically-challenged daughter Harshrita Hemangini (17) and later died by suicide over extreme financial crisis. Probe revealed Das had used up all his savings for his daughter’s treatment and was unable to pay the house rent owing to which he was forced to take the extreme step.
The Cuttack Urban police, though, achieved major success in February this year by cracking the Beleswar double murder case in which an elderly couple Shrinath Samal (72), a retired employee of FCI, and his wife Bidulata Samal (65) were brutally murdered at their residence on the night of December 12, 2019.
The incident remained shrouded in mystery for around six years till police arrested their maid Basanti Samad and her husband Iman Samad from Sundargarh on February 14, 2025 in connection with the case. During interrogation, the couple revealed they killed the elderly as a revenge for declining their request for money.