‘Custody’ Death In Paradip: OHRC Takes Suo Motu Cognisance; Check Details

Paradip: Taking suo motu cognisance of the death of a youth allegedly in police custody in Odisha’s Paradip, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed the Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police (SP) to conduct an investigation and submit the report along with the post-mortem report within two weeks by May 20.

The state Congress on Sunday held the Jagatsinghpur SP and Abhaychandapur police station Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) responsible for the death.

The family of the youth, identified as Manoranjan Gedi, has alleged that he was picked up by the police in a narcotics case and was tortured in custody, resulting in his death.

Strongly reacting to the incident, Congress spokesperson Nishikanta Mishra said the present case has similarities with a case that took place at the Baseli Sahi police station in Puri district on November 19, 2020. In that incident, a man named K Ramesh had allegedly died in police custody.

Mishra said that Jagatsinghpur SP Akhileswar Singh and Abhaychandapur IIC Jeebananda Jena were then the Puri SP and Baseli Sahi police station IIC respectively.

Gedi’s family said he was innocent while the police claimed he died in an accident while trying to flee after being challenged by the police. Police claimed that he along with another person was carrying brown sugar.