Bhubaneswar: Deputy Commissioner of Police Anup Sahu has assured Lokanath Patnaik, a victim of police highhandedness, of stringent action against traffic personnel who had beaten him up Sunday.
The assurance came when Patnaik met the DCP at his office Tuesday. Patnaik was assaulted by the on-duty traffic constables at Pal Heights Square near Nayapalli.According to Patnaik, the DCP sympathised with him and also said that he had personally seen the video of the constables beating him. The video shot by some unknown onlooker had gone viral. The DCP informed him that the case was being investigated by the ACP Traffic, Anup Kanungo. He advised him to meet Kanungo Wednesday.
Lokanath, a resident of Begunia Village in Khurda, along with his family was going to attend a wedding at Hirakud in Sambalpur district when the incident occurred. Two constables deployed at Pal Heights Square at Nayapalli stopped the Maruti Ertiga vehicle (AP 31 DW 7424) — registered at Vishkhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh — they were travelling in. The car was owned and driven by Chittu Patanaik, Lokanath’s cousin, who has been staying in Andhra Paradesh since long.
The constables demanded to see several documents related to car. However, the police personnel and Lokanath entered into an altercation over the fancy number plate which was banned in Odisha and vehicle permit. Lokanath explained to the constables that fancy number plates were not banned in the neighbouring state where the car is registered. He also told the traffic police that they had paid toll tax while entering the city which is valid for 30 days while his brother had stayed only for two days.
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