Student unrest in city over mobile theft

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Bhubaneswar: At least three activists of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) youth wing in capital were Tuesday arrested by the police on charges of kidnapping and assaulting a student leader of the same party.
According to sources, arguments broke out between them Monday at Utkal University campus. The victim, Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra, was also the ex-student union president of the University in 2017. The assault and subsequent arrest provoked the supporters of both the groups to take to the street. Around 300 students of the University Tuesday night apprised the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of their resentment against the assault.
Supporters of the student leader blocked the National Highway at Vani Vihar square while another student group who are the supporters of the accused protested against the arrest by blocking the road in front of the BJB College.
The supporters of student leader said that some students who came to write the entrance examinations for the Integrated MBA program at the University’s MBA department had left their mobile phones under the seat of a student’s scooter. However, they did not find their cell phones after the exam was over. They informed the matter to the help desk of the student union.
Later, when the union members including Mohapatra went to the spot they saw an employee of a city-based Management College sitting on the scooter. Although they detained the employee, the latter contacted BJD student wing president Kalpataru Ojha, who asked them to let him go.
There were heated exchanges between the union members and the employee of the private management college.
Kalpataru along with around 10 of his supporters came to the university around 12.30 am Tuesday and allegedly assaulted Mahapatra and his friends at the Govinda Sahoo market in the campus.
After a few minutes they forcefully took Mahapatra in a vehicle and left to which security guards at the main entrance were witnesses. The students immediately informed the matter to the inspector in-charge of Sahid Nagar police. The IIC contacted Ojha and asked to bring Mahapatra back. While leaving him near Mancheswar area the police caught Ojha and his friends.
A counter complaint was also registered by the opposite party with Sahid Nagar police. They have alleged that Soumya and his friends asked `15,000 as extortion money from the management institute employee which they protested. A posse of police forces was deployed before the court premises keeping in view of the tense situation.