Hundreds of locals, including PRI members, of Derabish block on Wednesday staged a dharna in front of the Derabish police station protesting police failure to nab the accused in a couple of murder cases.
The agitators demanded a Crime Branch probe into the Dipu murder case and transfer of the Derabish IIC.
Notably, the Derabish police had on July 28 last recovered the body of Debi Prasad Swain alias Dipu of Deshapur from an agriculture field near Jahangar village in Palei gram panchayat. Suspecting it to be a murder case, the police had registered a case and even detained four persons of a family, including a girl.
But later, the police turned the Dipu’s murder into an unnatural death case citing a Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (FMT) test report. The police had maintained that Dipu had died of respiratory failure caused by lightning.
But the locals alleged foul play in the postmortem and FMT reports. Arguing that neither rain nor lightning occurred in the locality on July 27 night, they questioned the authenticity of the reports.
“The police and doctors have manipulated the reports to shield the culprits. We demand Crime Branch probe into the case to unearth the truth, besides transfer of the IIC,” said the agitators.
Similarly, they alleged that the police have failed to nab the prime accused in the Ranjay Jena murder case. Julia alias Sanjay Jena with the help of Guru Charan Jena, father-in-law of Ranjay of Chatara Chakroda village, had allegedly killed him on May 16 night.
After Sub-Collector Pratap Kumar Mishra, SDPO Nrushingha Charan Swain and the Derabish BDO assured that they would take up their demands with the district Collector and SP immediately, the locals called off the strike.