Sambalpur: Police arrested 12 people in a Sunday midnight crackdown in connection with the torching of Ainthapali police station February 8. It may be recalled, an unruly mob, in an impulsive reaction to an alleged custodial death, had set the police station on fire. More than 100 people were alleged to have been involved in the incident.
Two cases were registered at Ainthapali Police station in this connection on February 10, two days after it was restored. Over 100 people have been named as accused in both the cases and charged with offences under hordes of criminal acts, as per DPO sources.
One of the cases registered is “torching of the police station” (Case No 45/2018 with crimes u/s 147, 148, 294, 341, 332, 333, 187, 307, 452, 436, 427, 395, 507, 342, 225, 149 IPC besides 3 PDPP Act and 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act). The other one is regarding road block at Bhalupali before torching the police station (Case No 46/2018 crimes u/s 147,294, 507, 341, 186, 149 IPC and 8 NH Act 1956).
The arrested 12 were identified as (1) Rabindra Sahu, 36; (2) Uttam Sahu, 28; (3) Haladhar Sahu, 28; (4) Nandi Sahu, 27; (5) Krishna alias Harischandra, 27; (6) Saroj Bahadur Thapa, 25; (7) Mohan Oram, 30; (8) Trinath Behera, 28 (9) Narayan Oram, 22; (10) Bashistha Mukharji, 40; (11) Surendra alias Biren Naik, 40; and (12) Birat Naik, 21. They were forwarded to judicial custody.
In a secret operation, the police teams cracked down on these persons at several places like Anuguliapada, Telipada, Karamtoli, Nuapada in front of Ambiranagar, Khejriapada and Pragativihar. All these localities are in the surrounding areas of the spot, where the incident took place and they come under Ainthapali Police station jurisdiction.
The Director General of Police (DGP) acted promptly on the incident and suspended the duty constable, an assistant sub-inspector of police and the then inspector in-charge of the police station with immediate effect that very day.