Baripada: The owner of a deaddiction centre, Abani Kumar Pati was arrested by the Town Police on charges of brutally assaulting an inmate at the facility.
A video of Pati and an associate beating an inmate mercilessly went viral on the Internet which prompted the police action.
If a brutal assault was not enough, the duo forced the inmate to lick and clean their feet, all this was recorded on a mobile camera.
Incidentally, this is the same ‘deaddiction centre’ – Pratignya Nisha Nibarana Kendra, located at Kalikapur, which was sealed in February 2017, by the then Collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil.
Patil noted that the institution has been running without a registration number under the clinal establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act,2010 and the owner, Abani Kumar Pati indulged in unlawful activities like assaulting the inmates and collecting money from the guardian of the inmates.
Following the Collector’s orders, the facility was sealed in the presence of an Executive Magistrate on February 3, 2017.
Whether this deaddiction centre secured any kind of official registration during the last 5 years, or it has continued to run illegally with impunity, is not clear. According to sources, Pati was running this facility in the name of another person, after he was blacklisted.
SDPO Sadar KK Hariprasad said that an inquiry has been initiated and this will be sealed.
It may be noted, that the terror and illegality saga of this centre does not end here. On December 23, 2016, 10 inhabitants of this facility escaped and took shelter at the local police station in Baripada.
