UMERKOTE : Three police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were suspended on Thursday, a day after a 23-year-old man allegedly died by suicide inside the Dabugaon police station.
The suspended personnel included sub-inspector Bikram Sahu, OAPF personnel Karn Pujari and Budhiram Majhi.
The victim, Purna Kalar of Anchala village under Medana panchayat, had died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody on Tuesday night, triggering protests and a road blockade by family members and villagers demanding justice.
Officials confirmed that the postmortem was conducted at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Nabarangpur following the incident. The body was then handed over to the deceased’s family. The last rites were later performed at Anchala, amid a tense atmosphere and heavy police presence.
Nabarangpur SP Sandeep Sampat Madkar said that strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty, even as the law and order situation in the area remains under close watch. As per the SP’s direction, a team led by additional SP Aditya Sen has been formed to investigate the incident. Sen said the probe would cover all angles and assured that guilty would not be spared.
Kalar was arrested on Tuesday on charges of abduction and assault of a minor girl. He was scheduled to be produced before a court on Tuesday. However, hours before his production, his death in police custody sparked outrage among family members and villagers, who staged a road blockade on Umerkote-Nabarangpur route.
The agitators alleged that Kalar died after assault in custody but police later attempted to pass it off as a suicide. However, the police claimed that Kalar died by suicide by hanging himself in the toilet using a bedsheet.
According to police, a missing complaint was lodged by the minor girl’s family on April 5. Following this, police launched a manhunt and rescued the girl on April 25 from Dhamnaguda village under Dabugaon police station limits. Based on the victim’s statement, Kalar was arrested on Tuesday.
