Baripada: The sole police station in this town follows an unusual practice: it remains locked for several hours every night after 10 pm, and whoever is unlucky enough to urgently require police help during this period has no option but to wait for the police station to ‘reopen’.
This scenario has seemingly become routine. This correspondent made daily visits to the police station for about a week and found that the main gate and the second gate of the police station are locked after 10 pm when all of the policemen go out on ‘patrolling’.
Several people visited the police station for help during this time, but they had to return in vain. It is being alleged that the policemen are going out all at once on the pretext of conducting patrolling but their many objective is to allegedly extort money from heavy vehicles passing through the town.
Superintendent of police R Prakash was apprised of this along with evidence. The SP assured that strong action will be taken against policemen involved in such activities.
It was learnt that a policeman of ASI rank, who has been transferred from Bahalda in September 2016 to Baripada, goes out for patrolling every night after 10 pm along with four to five policemen. Their patrol vehicle is found parked either on the NH bypass at Palabani, Darogadahi Golei Chhak and Murgabadi Golei Chhak during their 5-6 hours of patrolling.
The policemen were found intercepting heavy vehicles carrying fish, coal, scrap, sand, stone and cattle on the NH. They allegedly extort money from the vehicle drivers. The drivers who refuse to pay money are brought along with vehicles and are harassed till they cough up the money.
Though drivers sometimes complain to senior police officers about such extortion, no action is taken due to lack of evidence. Surendra Singh, a driver from Rairangpur, said police flagged down his vehicle on the plea of checking documents, but demanded money April 17 at Palabani bypass. He had to pay money to avoid police harassment.
Nirmal Majumdar and Raju Banerjee from Kolkata also alleged similar harassment by the patrol party. Muna Mohant of Madhuban said he had once found the police station gates locked at 11 pm after he managed to escape from a group of miscreants who were trying to loot him at Station Bazar area. SP Prakash said the matter will be investigated and action will be taken against guilty police officials. PNN
