About 50 locals from Ayeba gram panchayat of Kendrapara block on Thursday staged a dharna in front of the District Collector’s office here.
They demanded the suspension of sarpanch Chinmayi Sethy and wanted stern legal recourse against her husband and brother-in-law for allegedly embezzling Rs15,000 meant for providing relief to the calamity-hit people taking refuge in school and college buildings.
Initially, when locals protested against the siphoning of funds by the sarpanch’s husband and brother-in-law, they allegedly threatened to lodge an FIR against them on fake dalit atrocities charge.
As a result, the villagers locked down the panchayat office and approached the District Collector demanding suspension of the sarpanch and strict action against her spouse and brother-in-law.
The locals alleged that Sethy’s husband and brother-in-law embezzled Government funds by fudging the sarpanch’s signature.
Interestingly, Chinmayi Sethy’s spouse is a police officer with Nayapalli Police Station in Bhubaneswar. She resides in the Government quarter provided to her husband in the Capital and hardly ever visits the panchayat office.
After District Collector Niranjan Nayak assured locals of conducting an inquiry into the matter and taking action accordingly, the agitators withdrew their stir.