Post News Network
Puri, July 4: Traffic movement was disrupted on major roads in the holy town for eight hours Monday after residents of Narendrakona Dalit slum blocked a road as part of their agitation following the death of an octogenarian as a result of assault.
Balaram Nayak (80) was critically injured after being allegedly attacked by some miscreants June 26 night. He was undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital. He died Sunday night.
Nayak’s death triggered tension in the area as hundreds of residents, including women residents of the slum, blocked the road from 7 am by keeping his body on the road and demanded immediate arrest of the accused.
Kumbharpada police rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the agitators, but in vain. Later, the local counsellor held discussions with the agitators, following which the road blockade was lifted at 3 pm. Police sent Nayak’s body to the district headquarters hospital for post-mortem.
Sources said some miscreants had picked up a quarrel with Nayak and attacked him, leaving him critically injured. His family members rushed him to the DHH. But the doctors at the DHH asked his family members to take Nayak to SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack after his condition deteriorated. He died en route to SCBMCH Sunday night.
The deceased’s daughter, Shamuka, said though she had lodged a complaint with police the night of the attack, police took no steps to arrest the accused even after five days passed since the incident. “The accused are threatening me and my husband with our lives. When I complained about the matter, sub-inspector Sandhya Rani Biswal, the investigating officer, asked us to withdraw the case,” said Shamuka to journalists.
“When my 80-year-old father was brutally assaulted, police asked me to resolve the case mutually. The investigating officer even summoned me to the police station and forcibly took my signature on a blank sheet of paper,” Shamuka said.
“The investigating officer certainly took a huge bribe and dismissed the case. The accused are now roaming freely and threatening me and my husband with our lives,” added Shamuka. The investigating officer, however, refuted the allegations. “These are baseless allegations against me. The two groups had come to me and the case was resolved mutually. I did not use any illegal means to resolve the case,” said Biswal.
Inspector-in-charge Krushna Chandra Sethi said, “The deceased’s daughter had lodged a complaint on the night of the incident. The case was mutually resolved Saturday. I do not know if the investigating officer has dismissed the case by illegal means. I will probe the matter. The accused will be nabbed soon.”