BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday gave the police top brass a piece of his mind over the mob lynching of a GRP constable on Bhubaneswar outskirts and handed over probe to the Crime Branch.
After arriving from Kolkata, the chief minister summoned the top officers and expressed his displeasure in strongest possible words over the poor police response to the violence which has drawn nationwide outrage.
The meeting was attended by chief secretary Anu Garg, additional chief secretary, Home department Hemant Sharma, DGP YB Khurania, director (intelligence) RP Koche, Crime Branch DG Vinaytosh Mishra, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh, ADG (law & order) Sanjay Kumar and Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena.
A livid Majhi also took strong exception to the manner in which constable Soumya Ranjan Swain was transferred from the crime spot to the hospital, it is reliably learnt. The CM instructed that responsibility be fixed on the police personnel for the incident.
Majhi directed DGP Khurania to remain vigilant and take proactive steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the state. Police must adopt the strictest possible measures against perpetrators of mob violence and ensure stringent action against all those involved in the incident, he said.
Meanwhile, police apprehended six more accused in connection with the incident, taking the total number of arrests to 11. The accused have been identified as Pramod Jena, Bunty Jena, Sujit Rana, Abhishek Kar, Sadananda Khuntia and Bikram Keshari Das.
Officials said all the perpetrators are being identified through a series of viral videos recorded at the crime scene.
“The accused are being identified through the video clips and the testimonies of eyewitnesses. We are double-checking to see whether any person who recorded the video instigated the mob as he too is then liable for the crime,” said a senior police officer.
Dusashan Swain, father of Soumya, however, expressed his shock over the police’s lax response and the inhumane manner in which his son was shifted to the hospital after the brutal assault. “Police personnel were watching when my son was being assaulted. After rescuing him, the police shifted him in a pick-up van like animals are transported and that act was completely inhumane,” Dusashan told mediapersons.
Soumya’s nephew Om Prakash Rout, who was riding the motorcycle on the fateful day, recalled that a PCR van comprising just three police personnel arrived and started noting their details even when the violent mob continued to assault Soumya.
He revealed that a sub-inspector of police arrived in plainclothes but the mob paid no heed. Eventually, the officer directed that Soumya be tied and lifted using a bamboo. Subsequently, the constable was put in pick-up van and shifted to Balakati CHC, he said.
Om Prakash claimed the entire onslaught continued for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
