A havildar was suspended and a police driver and a home guard were to face disciplinary action for assaulting a scribe and demanding money in public.
The suspended Haviladr was identified as Devadatta Ray and the police driver, Sudhir Ranjan Panda and the home guard, Niranjan Moharana.
Reports said that on Saturday evening the trio had been deployed to conduct vehicle check-up at Balibhaonri Chhak on Jagatsinghpur- Balikuda road. Somanath Parida, a journalist, was returning to Jagatsinghpur in a two-wheeler when the trio intercepted him.
The men in uniform scolded him for not showing his vehicle’s paper and asked money. later, tension mounted at the spot as villagers resorted to a road blockade protesting the behavior of the police.
Senior police officers accompanied by a police force rushed to the spot and restored normalcy. Following instruction of SP Jaya Narayan Pankaj, a probe was conducted by DSP Sashi Sekhar Mohapatra and later, basing on the DSP’s report, Pankaj took the disciplinary action the trio.