Bhubaneswar: Organised crime has raised its ugly head in the city. The death of Sowmyaranjan Mandhata, a relative of delivery boy Suprbhat, in an attack by a group of finance company workers, has raised several questions about the safety of people in the city.
While the attackers escaped the clutches of law on the pretext of legal loopholes, officers in charge of maintaining law and order seemed to remain callous or indifferent. Sowmya had come to rescue Suprabhat who was attacked on September 25 at Bharatpur but he himself sustained injuries on the head during the attack leading to his death on Friday.
Some noted criminals who had served jail term are stated to have indulged in the attacks. While a few have fled the scene others have been booked under flexible, bailable provisions so that they can escape strong fetters of law.
There was a similar incident on September 30 in Oscar City under Laxmisagar police station limits wherein miscreants entered the residential area to extort money (dadabatti in local parlance) and attacked people when a few declined to pay on demand.
About 15 miscreants attacked Bulu Samantaray of Behera Street near Kalinga Stadium under Nayapalli police station limits on October 11 when he refused to pay Dadabatti o demand. The rowdy elements also attacked make-shift vendors on October 10 under Capital police station limits in which P Lingaraj Rao was injured critically.
It is alleged that the police administration seems to be oblivious of such organised crimes taking place in the city limits intermittently. Will the authorities awaken to the need of the hour to ensure safety to the citizens?
