Koraput: A dawn-to-dusk bandh call by the local bar association demanding suspension of two police officials of Town police station Wednesday threw life out of gear here.
Sub-inspector Shibshankar Sahoo and ASI AK Dalei had allegedly picked up lawyer Bibek Ranjan Sethi during Bahuda Yatra and beat him up inside the police station. The lawyers have been staging a dharna and have ceased court work since that day demanding suspension of the officials.
The law practitioners had to resort to bandh-call as their demand was not heeded by the authorities, association members said.
All commercial establishments, banks, post offices, and educational institutions remained closed Wednesday after the protesters picketed and burnt tyres at major intersections of the town. Emergency service providers including filling stations and gas agencies were forced to down their shutters.
The cash loading van and its escort vehicle which were on their way to Malkangiri district had been stopped near DRDA office. This apart, passengers of long route buses and students who arrived here to appear for OTET examination faced a lot of difficulties.
Though the collector held discussions with members of the association and asked them to abstain from the strike, it yielded no results.
The bandh was total and more or less peaceful. The collectorate had functioned as usual while a meeting of the revenue department was held amid tight security arrangement, according to a report. PNN