Phulbani: Three police personnel including an IIC and a woman police official were detained by angry villagers after a heated argument by the two sides following the death of a youth at Dangulu village near Phulbani Sadar in Kandhamal district Thursday.
Alleging that there was no proper probe, irate villagers detained the three police officials for more than four hours and allegedly thrashed them. The woman police official was injured in the attack, sources said.
The situation was brought under control after local MLA Duguni Kanhar reached the village and pacified the villagers. After this, the police officials were released.
According to sources, a youth Somnath Bhukta was called by one of his friends June 3. After two days, Somnath’s body was returned to the village on a vehicle by some unidentified people. Claiming that Somnath died in an accident, they placed the body near his house and disappeared from the scene.
Somnath’s family members suspected murder and lodged a complaint with the police. Even after 15 days, the police failed to arrest anyone.
Expressing resentment, the villagers approached the SP and District Collector (DM) seeking their intervention. Later, Sadar IIC Radhakant Sahu along with two other officials reached the village to conduct a probe. It was then the situation went out of control.
Accusing the police of not doing a proper investigation and not arresting the guilty, the angry villagers detained them.