Tihidi: A clash between the residents of Talapada village and a school headmaster led to a standoff between the villagers and Pirahat police Thursday in Bhadrak district, sources said. Following the arrest of two villagers Wednesday night due to the initial clash, the locals refused to let a police van leave the village till early morning.
Around 40 villagers later staged a sit-in outside the Pirahat police station Thursday, leading to tension. The situation was later brought under control following interventions. Reports said that the dispute began November 11 after villagers demanded the dismissal of a cook employed at Talapada Primary School. The headmaster refused to oblige, which led to a heated exchange of words and a scuffle between him and the villagers.
Both sides later filed complaints against each other at Pirahat police station. Headmaster Prashant Kumar Jena and a woman named Gouri Malik lodged separate FIRs, prompting police to register two cases (311/25 and 312/25).
Acting on Jena’s complaint, a team of nine police personnel, led by IIC Rojalin Behera, went to arrest two villagers, Abhimanyu Malik and Sushil Malik, Wednesday night. When they reached the village around 1am to make the arrests, several villagers allegedly confronted them, hurled abuses, and briefly detained the officers. The police were released around 6am after local sarpanch Chakradhar Das intervened. Villagers later expressed resentment over the late-night arrests, demanding that action also be taken on Gouri Malik’s complaint and that the two detained villagers be released. Villagers relented after Tihidi police station IIC Satyabrata Grahacharya reached Pirahat and persuaded them to withdraw their protest.
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