A widow coming to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) here to identify the body of her minor son was assaulted on
Friday afternoon. Sasmita Mangaraj (36) of Kalikabadi village under Brahmagiri block complained that not only she, her father and brother were also manhandled in the DHH while they were briefing reporters on the suspicious death of her son, who was studying at the Nilachal Seva Pratisthan (NSP) situated at Kanas. She suspected a nexus of the Pratisthan in the attack.
Sources said the NSP is an NGO supported by the District Chief Welfare Committee (DCWC) that conducts multifarious activities including imparting education to poor students.
The woman, after the death of her husband, was working in Bhubaneswar as a housemaid. The Puri Kumbarpada police have taken one Debadutta Pradhan of Khakimutt Nuasahi of the city into custody in connection with the attack and have started an investigation.
As per the woman’s statement, due to poverty, she had sent her son
Santosh (15) to the NSP-run school through the DCWC three months back. Santosh was staying in the NSP and waiting for admission after the Covid lockdown.
The woman informed that she had received a telephone call from a Pratisthan employee on Wednesday about missing of her son from the school along with another boy. And on Friday, she got a call from the Pratisthan about receipt of a body of a boy from the Luna river and she was asked to come for identification at the DHH.
The woman said she had identified the decomposed body to be of her son. She complained that her son was thrown into the river after being murdered.