In a setback to ruling BJD MlA Ranendra Pratap (Raja) Swain, the tainted Athagarh police inspector Gyanaranjan Samal was on Wednesday withdrawn from his office in view of Thursday's urban local body elections. Samal was asked to leave Athagarh by 5 pm on the day and report at the district police headquarters here (Cuttack) with immediate effect. He was asked not to return to Athagarh until further orders.
The order came after the State Election Commissioner (SEC) asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to remove the inspector from his post for his alleged misconduct during the run-up to the Athagarh NAC polls.
"The Athgarh police inspector was withdrawn before 5 pm on Wednesday in view of the Thursday's elections and was asked to report at the district headquarters," said Cuttack (Rural) SP Gurudash Kundu, adding that the nearby Khuntuni police station in-charge officer Nirodh Mohanty was given additional charge of the Athagarh PS.
It may be mentioned that for his dubious role during the electioneering, the Congress had lodged a complaint before the SEC against Samal. The police officer had allegedly asked a Congress sympathiser and son of one of his junior staff to canvas for the ruling BJD candidate in the polls.
Taking strong exceptions to the conduct of the police inspector, district Congress president Prakash Behera along with his party functionaries met the SEC in Bhubaneswar and appraised the latter about the dubious role of the policeman.