The Human Rights Front (HRF) on Wednesday welcomed the CBI probe ordered by the Odisha High Court in connection with the alleged custodial death of an accused Kuldeep Mohapatra at the Saheed Nagar police station on June 5, 2012.
The Court further directed the Central agency to submit a report on the cause of death of the accused within four weeks.
Speaking to reporters here, The Human Rights Front (HRF) member Manoj Jena welcomed the Court order that was delivered by a bench of judges headed by Justice Akshay Rath on August 18. “This was the first time a court has ordered a CBI inquiry into a custodial death case in the state,” he said.
The victim’s father, Rabindranath Mahapatra, also expressed satisfaction over the CBI inquiry ordered by the court. “Now that the court has ordered a CBI inquiry, I hope that I will get justice,” Mahapatra said.
Notably, the accused, Kuldeep Mahapatra, had died hours after his arrest on June 5, 2012 on charges of impersonating a police officer in Saheed Nagar area by the local police.
later, Mahapatra’s family had alleged that he died due to brutal beating in custody. After stiff protest by the family members, the Commissionerate Police had suspended two assistant sub-inspectors Banamali Das and Giridhar Patnaik of Saheed Nagar police station for dereliction of duty and had announced a magisterial inquiry into the alleged custodial death of Kuldeep.
later, the IIC was removed from the Saheed Nagar police station. Even the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) had taken suo moto cognizance of the alleged custodial death and asked the DCP to submit a report within seven days.