Cuttack: Athagarh police have arrested the forest range officer of Baramba Subrat Behera and five other forest department personnel in connection with the death of a person who was detained by them.
The deceased in this case was Dhaneswar Behera, who was detained by the Baramba forest range personnel on suspicion of his links with the killing of an elephant.
Behera was picked up from near a petrol pump and detained at Tigiria watch tower for questioning. He died allegedly due to the injuries inflicted during the interrogation, Behera’s family alleged.
Atagarh SDPO Bijay Kumar Bisi said that 14 persons were detained for questioning out of which six, including the Ranger have been arrested under Sections 341, 323, 354, 365, 342, 302 and 34 IPC.
Behera, a native of Satagochia village, was detained on February 5 and he died a day later. The other arrestees, in this case, are Foresters Manoj Das, Dipak Sethi, Guards Sunaek Majhi, Kuna Behera, and Prabhat Pradhan, Bisi added.
Another person, Rajkishor Pradhan of Shyamsundarpur village in Cuttack district said he was also picked up by forest officials on Saturday, along with Behera and another villager, for allegedly killing an elephant.
Pradhan claimed they were assaulted by the forest staff as they wanted them to confess their role in the tusker’s death. Pradhan managed to flee and got himself admitted to a hospital, but Behera could not. Further investigation, in this case, is on, the police said.
