Puri: Close on the heels of the shocking death of two persons in alleged police custody in Odisha, another incident of custodial torture has come to the fore in Puri district.
According to reports, six persons accused of drug peddling were admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack with multiple injuries. The condition of five of them is stated to be critical with rotting flesh in some parts of their bodies.
Pipli police had arrested the six — Raju Behera (18), Pratap Kumar Behera (25), Hafiz Khan (25), Jagannath Puspalak (19), Mohammad Tafiq (18) and Dharanidhar Behera (24) — from Bhabanipur on November 13 for alleged links to drug peddling. Police had also seized two swords and a bike from them.
After keeping them in custody for some days, police forwarded the six accused to the Nimapada jail on November 19. However, the jail authorities refused to lodge the six after seeing their health condition.
The next morning, police took the accused to Nimpada government hospital where the doctors immediately referred them to SCB.
Sources said that barring Raju Behera, who has minor injuries, the condition of the five others is critical.
However, there has been no police clarification on how the accused were injured till reports last came in.
