Within two days of retired High Court Judge Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty’s house at Cuttack was burgled, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday took the top police brass to task and directed them to crack the case on a priority basis. A seemingly baffled Chief Minister directed DGP Sanjeev Marik and Twin City Police Commissioner Dr RP Sharma to intensify patrolling and install surveillance equipment in the CDA locality, creating an impression that he prioritises security for high and mighty persons.
Interestingly, one Goutam Sahu living in a rented house in the CDA Sector 11 in Cuttack was also robbed recently. Sahu’s house is hardly a few metres away from Mohanty’s residence. Now question arise as to whether police personnel showed any seriousness to probe Sahu’s case as they did in Justice Mohanty’s case and whether the Chief Minister was apprised of Sahu’s case too. If sources are to be believed, the two top police personnel didn’t make the Chief Minister aware of the dacoity committed in Sahu’s house.
Two dacoity incidents in the same locality at around same time reflect the efficiency of the Home Department which is headed by the Chief Minister himself. The varying yardstick for different sections of society raises questions on its intent over its selective approach. As per the White Paper the State recorded a total of 554 dacoity incidents where people were robbed off Rs 12.91 crore. Besides, 1,828 loot cases were reported in which the miscreants decamped with Rs 13.35 crore. In addition to this, 9,410 theft cases have been registered in 2014 in which the offenders ran away with valuables worth Rs 74.73 crore.
There were dacoities of around Rs 102 crore of which the police department had recovered only Rs 29 crore of the plunder. Investigation into only 4 per cent of the dacoity cases was completed and the remaining 96 per cent cases remained unsolved. This being the backdrop, has the Chief Minister ever asked his top police personnel about the dismal show by the officersIJ
Notably, the dacoits had struck into the house of retired Justice Mohanty, whod is heading the Judicial Commission of Enquiry into Pipli gangrape case, at Abhinav Bidanasi under the Markat Nagar police station on early Saturday morning. They tied Mohanty and his family members and looted away cash and jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh from his house.