Range Officer Among 6 Forest Personnel Arrested For Death Of Detainee

Cuttack: A forest range officer and five other forest department personnel were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the death in custody of a man, who was detained by them in Badamba area of Odisha’s Cuttack district.

The deceased, identified as Dhaneswar Behera, was detained by the Badamba forest range personnel on suspicion of his involvement  the killing of an elephant, sources said.

Dhaneswar, who was picked up and detained at Tigiria watch tower for questioning, died allegedly due to the injuries inflicted during the interrogation, Behera’s family alleged.

The incident had triggered widespread protest in the area with locals staging a demonstration and torching a forest beat house.

Police said 14 persons were detained for questioning in connection with his death and of them six, including the range officer Subrat Behera, have been arrested under Sections 341, 323, 354, 365, 342, 302 and 34 IPC.

The other arrested persons are foresters Manoj Das, Dipak Sethi, forest guards Sunaek Majhi, Kuna Behera, and Prabhat Pradhan, police added.

Dhaneswar Behera of Satagochia village was detained on February 5 and he died a day later.