Bhubaneswar: Initiating stern action in connection with the brutal mob lynch ing of Government Railway Police (GRP) constable Soumya Ranjan Swain in Balianta on the city outskirts May 7, Odisha Police Sunday suspended four policemen, disengaged two home guards from service and transferred the Balianta IIC, hours after the state Crime Branch (CB) began a thorough probe into the incident.
However, there is growing discontent among locals over the manner in which the investigation is being conducted.
Many have alleged that the women victims are not being given adequate importance during the probe.
The probe team visited the native village of the deceased and met members of his family.
Sources said the officials also travelled to Benupur late at night to record the statement of one of the women victims.
The CB had taken over the case a day after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi issued such an order to Odisha Police, keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter where the women alleged to have been assaulted and Soumya’s family demanding a ‘polygraph’ test of the women complainants.
According to the Commissionerate of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, the four cops – one sub-inspector (SI), one assistant sub-inspector (ASI), one personnel from Odisha Armed Police Force (OAPF) of Balianata police station and one constable of the PCR (police control room) vehicle staff, were placed under suspension on charge of dereliction of duty.
The two home guards, who were in the PCR van, had been served with discontinuance of service and their organisations informed, an official said.
Sources said these personnel were the first to reach the site near Ramachandrapur bridge on Hansapal-Bhingarpur Road, where the mob lynched a 32-year-old GRP constable Swain following an allegation of attempted rape by a woman.
IIC of Balianta Police Station, Anil Kumar Parida, has been shifted and attached to the Bhubaneswar headquarters.
Inspector Rashmita Behera has been posted as the new IIC of the police station. Slain GRP cop’s father, Duhsasan Swain, had alleged on Saturday that his son was beaten to death by the mob in the presence of the police personnel.
He even alleged that some police personnel also assaulted his son along with the mob. The CB has formed two teams to investigate two major cases registered in this connection.