Athagarh, Feb 8: In the wake of the death of a villager in the custody of the Forest department, six forest officials arrested by the Badamba police were produced in the special scheduled caste and scheduled tribe court at Cuttack, Wednesday.
A villager Dhaneswar Behera of Satagochhia village under Badamba police limits died during his detention in the custody of forest officials. He died after allegedly being assaulted brutally by the forest officials.
The accused were identified as Badamba forest ranger Subrat Behera, foresters Manoj Das, and Deepak Sethi; forest guard Sunayan Majhi, Kuna Behera and Prabhat Pradhan. They were arrested over the statement of auto driver Abdul Sajid Khan, the deceased widow and his elder daughter and three other villagers.
Two Mahindra Bolero jeeps (OD-25-AH-1160 and OD-02-C-5481) used by the forest officials, four sticks and the clothes (pants and shirts) used by the deceased Dhaneswar were seized from their possession.
This was stated here by SDPO Bijay Kumar Bisi at a press meet held at the Athagarh police station in Cuttack district, Wednesday.
Preliminary inquiries indicated that the deceased Dhaneswar was picked up by the forest officials when he along with his family members and some villagers was on his way to a relative’s house in an auto-rickshaw, Sunday.
A case 25/23 was registered against the six accused forest officials under Sections 341, 323, 294, 354, 365, 342 and 302 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Section 34 of IPC, Sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe Protection Act.
Further, two ACFs Ghanashyam Muduli and Harekrushna Mallick, a police constable, two drivers and three forest guards are being interrogated in this connection.
Three other villagers who are undergoing treatment at Badamba community health centre after being similarly assaulted by the forest officials have lodged complaint in the name of Athagarh DFO and Athagarh ranger Rabindra Kumar Nayak in the Badamba police station.
More arrests could be made after recording the statements of the injured persons and conducting further probe into the case. Police said that it will take up probe against the Athagarh DFO as his name figures in the complaint.
Police has directed the forest officials not to leave the headquarters during the period of investigation. Among others, Athagarh IIC Bamadev Swain and Tigiria IIC Suchitra Jena were present during the press meet.
post news network
