The State Progressive Women’s Forum on Thursday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene into the alleged killing of newlywed Shradhanjali Panda (21) of Bhimpur and take action against neglecting police officers in the case apart from giving Rs 25 lakh compensation to her lone child.
In a letter, forum president Mamata Samantray and Bhimipur Development Committee secretary Prasanna Kumar Swain have demanded that disciplinary action be taken against ACP PD Mohapatra, Air Field PS IIC Rashmi Ranjan, the Mahila Thana IIC and Commissioner of Police RP Sharma for negligence.
“Newlywed Panda was set on fire on November 14. Though the Air Filed PS IIC knew it, he did not conduct any investigation on the day. The Mahila Thana staffs started primary investigation on the following day but could not move to the Vivekananda Hospital to record Shradhanjali’s statement. When we approached the ACP, he stated that the victim is being treated at the Sabaramati Nursing Training School at Mahanadi Vihar in Cuttack and her statement has been recorded by police,” they stated in the letter.
Samantray and Swain further alleged that the concerned IICs and the ACP didn’t conduct proper investigations and even did not arrange proer treatment for Shradhanjali. “The police changed primary investigation reports and didn’t arrest the accused. We suspect that taking advantage of police inaction the accused administered poisonous injection through saline and killed her,” the two mentioned.
They threatened that people of Bhimpur will expedite agitation if action is not taken against the concerned officers and compensation is not paid to the victim’s son soon.