Even though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Odisha police a number of times to be people-friendly, a shocking case of highhandedness by the Tarbha police in Subarnapur district has come to the fore after a mechanic was subjected to harassment without any fault.
Sources said Arjun Nayak (28) of village Ghantrapada of Tarbha block is working in a garage in front of the Old DIG Office in Sambalpur for the last five years. As his mother was ill, he had come to his village on May 14.
In this period, his uncle gave Arjun a Hero Honda motorbike for repair.
After finishing the repair he had gone for trial of the vehicle to Tarbha in the evening.
At that time, Tarabha IIC Srikanta Kumar Tripathy was coming from opposite side. He allegedly abused Arjun in filthy language for standing on the road and snatched the bikes keys.
Then he was taken to the police station and when he simply asked what his fault was, the IIC rained blows and kicked him several times for which he had to be hospitalised.
later, he approached the Sambalpur DIG begging him for justice.
But when a letter was sent from the Sambalpur DIG’s office to the Tarabha PS this infuriated the IIC and he became more reactive.
He allegedly detained Arjun’s family illegally in the police station onWednesday and threatened to book them in a dacoity case and sent them to jail if they do not produce Arjun in the police station within three days.
The locals have demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.