Asish Mehta
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 3: The capital city has been witnessing a surge in criminal activities as anti-social elements from various parts of the state like Ganjam, Jagatpur, Berhampur and Balasore are using Salia Sahi, the biggest slum here, as a safe haven. Locals have reportedly urged the police to set up an outpost at the slum.
“Crimes occur regularly here. Setting up a police outpost here has been our long-standing demand. Patrolling should be intensified as well,” said Pabitra Jena, a resident of the locality.
“Several criminals are finding shelter here. In 2011, the police had arrested Runita Badamajhi, a close aide of a Maoist, from the slum,” Jena added.
When asked why anti-socials from other parts of the state were targeting Bhubaneswar, a quick action team (QAT) official, who preferred anonymity, said in other major cities like Cuttack many gangs are active over the last several years for which the miscreants are now targeting the capital.
In 2013, twin city police commissioner Rajendra Prasad Sharma had directed the cops to start the process of tenant verification in Salia Sahi. With a population of about 70,000, the slum is mostly inhabited by outsiders.
Sources said anti-social elements are assembling discreetly near Haldipadia, Budha Nagar, Laxmisagar, Satya Nagar, Unit III, Anand Bazaar Square, Patia, Patrapada and Madhusudan Nagar but the police have turned a blind eye towards them.
Another policeman, on condition of anonymity, said there is a substantial rise in crimes committed by students, especially engineering students. “Students are indulging in cyber crimes and loot in order to live a lavish life,” he said.
The Commissionerate Police will urge all the colleges to provide hostel facilities to students as it is the only way to closely monitor their movements, he added.
The sources also said goons have easy access to firearms as two types of pistols – full slider pistols having nine chambers and half slider pistols having six chambers – are illegally manufactured in the state.
Illegal arms and ammunition are sold in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Full sliders are available at `45,000 each while half sliders are sold for something between `25,000 and `30,000. Arms could be easily concealed in bags and carried in trains and buses to the capital, the sources added.
ACP Bishnu Chandra Mishra, who is also the public relations officer of Commissionerate Police, rebutted the claims that anti-socials were assembling in the city on a regular basis and carrying out their plans to commit crimes.
“We are keeping a strict vigil on the movement of anti-social elements. We are taking preventive measures and with the help of our intelligence we are mostly apprehending the miscreants before they execute any crime,” he asserted.
Earlier, Sharma had told Orissa POST that Commissionerate Police was taking all possible measures to curb illegal gun-running in the capital and its adjoining areas.
“The Commissionerate Police had in 2014 launched operation ‘Black Smoke’ in Bhubaneswar and Operation Trishul in Cuttack to check illegal supply of firearms,” Sharma said.
He also stressed that gun-running business could not be controlled until and unless Bihar police took a serious note of the matter.
According to police data, 161 habitual offenders were booked under Section 110 CrPC in 2014 which was higher than previous three years – 158 in 2013; 27 in 2012; and 51 in 2011.
