Married Man Remarries Inside Police Outpost In Odisha; Cop Faces Heat

Bhawanipatna: When Santosh Panigrahi, a 32-year-old married man, decided to marry again, this time to the woman he was having an affair with, he chose an unlikely place — a police outpost.

Perhaps he thought that the place, being a police outpost, was safe, that no one will be able to disrupt their wedding there. The wedding went off smoothly. There was no obstruction. Not even from the police, which has sparked a controversy.

A police sub-inspector (SI) is facing the heat for allegedly facilitating the wedding inside the Borda police outpost in Odisha’s Kalahandi district after a video of the couple exchanging garlands inside the police outpost went viral on social media. The SI was identified as Tunu Sethi, the in-charge of the outpost. The wedding took place on Wednesday.

Panigrahi of Sapsilet village had married Shraddhanjali in 2018, according to media reports. The couple has a child. Shraddhanjali is now pregnant.

Panigrahi, however, was allegedly having an affair with a tribal woman and eloped with her. Sradhanjali’s family members traced him and his lover in Kantabanji and handed them over to Borda police.

However, instead of taking action against him under the law, Sethi allegedly facilitated Panigrahi’s marriage to the tribal woman inside the police outpost. SP Abhilash G was quoted in media reports as saying that the matter will be investigated and appropriate action taken.