Bhubaneswar: Mystery shrouds the death of a youth who died near Shaheed Nagar police station in the capital city on Thursday night. The deceased has been identified as Bichitra Palei, a resident of Ramachandrapur village in Odisha’s Jajpur district.
According to sources, Palei had reportedly taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from one Batakrushna Behera some three years ago. As he delayed the repayment, there was a fight between him and Batakrushna some days ago. However, the dispute was resolved as the two reportedly reached some kind of agreement on the payment of the loan.
On Thursday night, finding Bichitra wandering in near their house, Batakrushna and his sister thrashed him red and blue. The brother and sister duo allegedly forcibly put Bichitra in a car and tried to kidnap him for not repaying the money.
Talking to the media, Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh said Bichitra somehow managed to jump off the car when the vehicle slowed down near Vani Vihar Square in the city. Soon, a scuffle ensued between Bichitra and his sister Netramani Behra. However, some local persons intervened to help Bichitra and took him to the Shaheed Nagar police station on a motorbike. After they entered to police station premises, Bichtra began calling his friends for help but he soon fell down on the ground and lost consciousness.
Responding to the commotion, policemen on duty at the Shaheed Nagar police station rushed out and found Bichitra lying on the ground unconscious around 9.25 pm. They rushed Bichita to the Capital Hospital for treatment in a police van but the doctors declared him brought dead.
Meanwhile, the Saheed Nagar police have launched an investigation into the incident and detained Batakrushna and Netramani for interrogation. The police seized their vehicle and registered a case (no. 56/23) in connection with the incident.
Singh said that since the death occurred on the premises of Shaheed Nagar police station, they are following the guidelines set by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). For instance, the post-mortem was videographed and performed by a team of doctors.
