A Ganesh idol in the city displayed as the CBI dreaded by State police and politicians in the context of the chit fund-related raids irked a cop so much that he didn’t hesitate to assault a photojournalist, who was taking a picture of the image in Friday.
A havildar of the Nayapalli police station assaulted two photojournalists while they were taking snaps of the ‘CBI Ganesh’ installed at a puja pandal in the Unit-8 DAV school area.
Two constables and a havildar of the police station objected to the worshipping of lord Ganesh designed like a CBI officer punishing a chit fund firm owner. The puja pandal was designed like an Odisha map and the background of the idol had corruption-relating slogans. The cops covered the pandal with a big screen and didn’t allow local youths to enter it.
Out of curiosity, two photojournalists of two leading newspapers, while passing the road, took photos of the idol and the mandap. The policemen pulled the photojournalists away from the mandap. An unruly cop, SK Tripathy, suddenly assaulted the photojournalists and declared that nobody could enter into the mandap to see or take picture of the idol.
After the incident, a group of photojournalists and other scribes of various media houses gathered at the spot and staged a road blockade demanding action against the errant policeman.
When asked, Twin City Police Commissioner RP Sharma assured that strong action would be
taken against the policeman, if found guilty.