Paradip: A 25-year-old man allegedly involved in narcotics trade died under mysterious circumstances in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, with his family claiming he was tortured in police custody leading to his death.
The police, however, said a fall from a speeding motorbike while being chased by personnel of the force caused the death of the man, identified as Manoranjan Gedi, in a place under Abhayachandapur area Saturday.
The Congress on Sunday claimed that the incident is a rerun of the “custodian killing” of a man in Baseli Sahi police station in Puri district in 2020.
“My son was not involved in any crime. This is an incident of custodial killing. His body bore blood marks on the nose and swelling on ears,” the deceased’s father alleged.
The police said Gedi was neither arrested nor taken to a police station.
“Acting on an information that two men were travelling on a motorcycle carrying brown sugar, we intercepted them. One of them was nabbed while the other fell from the motorcycle while trying to flee,” said Jibanananda Jena, inspector in charge (IIC) of Abhayachandapur police station.
The Congress held Jena and the Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police responsible for the Gedi’s death. Congress spokesperson Nishikanta Mishra alleged that one person was killed inside Baseli Sahi police station in Puri district in November 2020. At that time, the current Jagatsinghpur SP Akhileswar Singh and the Abhayachandapur IIC were in charge of Puri district and Baseli Sahi police station respectively, he said.
“The incident in Abhaychandapur can be described as a rerun of that in Baseli Sahi police station. Had exemplary punishment been handed out to the IIC and SP, one more case of custodial death could have been averted,” Mishra said.
The incident came a fortnight after an alleged custodial death in Badagada police station in state capital Bhubaneswar.
PTI
