A violent scuffle between agitating student Congress activists and police personnel at the Congress Bhawan here on Monday left a cop seriously injured. Police took the students into preventive custody, while the condition of the injured cop was stable.
The clash was a reflection of the police excess on student Congress activists who were staging demonstration in front of the Chief Minister’s residence (Naveen Niwas) in the morning demanding resignation of Higher Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra and former Minister Raghunath Mohanty. In the meantime, a scribe of an Odia daily was too injured in the police attack.
Protesting lathicharge by the police, the students blocked the road by burning tyre at the Master Canteen and tried to set ablaze a city bus in front of the Congress Bhawan after pelting stone on the bus. When the police tried to disperse the students, a violent clash occurred.
The angry mob took havildar Nimai Charan Sahu into the Congress Bhawan and assaulted him. later, the police personnel entered into the Congress Bhawan and rescued the havildar from the clutches of the students. “Nearly, 10-12 activists beat me mercilessly,” the victim cop said. Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik strongly condemned the police attack on Chhatra Congress president Satyajit Patnaik and a scribe Subhakant Das. Addressing the Press here, Patnaik said the State Government is trying to suppress the voice of the common people by attacking them. The law and order situation is deteriorating fast in the State, he added.
The PCC president demanded stringent action against the culprits, who entered into the Congress Bhawan and damaged the property in the office. “If the State Government does not take any action against the culprits, we would take the issue to the public,” Patnaik warned.