The Cuttack-Sambalpur National Highway-55 at Purusottampur was blocked for at least three hours on Wednesday morning as some local people staged a road blockade protesting the transfer of Khuntuni police station IIC Gyanaranjan Samal.
Sources said the Khuntuni police station IIC has been transferred recently on completion of at least six years of his tenure at Athagarh and Khuntuni.
As Samal maintains a good rapport with several unscrupulous persons involved in different criminal cases including roadside robbery of coal and petroleum products etc, a group of such people staged the blockade from 6.30 am to 10 am without intimating the administration.
Being informed, Tangi-Choudwar SDPO Sudam Sahoo rushed the spot and arrested 14 protesters for blocking the NH. Athagarh Civil Society president Sailendra Patnaik has said if the police officer is skilled enough and refuges to go to Puri district, he should be posted in Maoist regions. Besides, a Vigilance enquiry must be made into his tenure at Athagarh and Khuntuni, he said.