Woman Cop Dies After Being ‘Manhandled’ By Youths In Odisha’s Rourkela

Rourkela: An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Uditnagar police station in Odisha’s Rourkela died after reportedly being assaulted by a group of unruly youths while managing a crowd at an accident spot on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Alish Narmi Lugun  (36).

According to sources, tension erupted at ring road near Singhasani temple when a bus, which was on its way to Rourkela bus stand, scratched past a car, the occupants of which then stopped the vehicle and picked up a quarrel with its driver. Subsequently, a dozen other youths arrived a the spot and assaulted the bus driver and his son. This brought the traffic on the ring road to the halt and the ASI soon arrived at the spot. She, however, was also manhandled by the youths, Md Zakir, the driver of the bus, was quoted as saying.

Lugun then collapsed at the spot and had to be rushed to Rourkela Government Hospital, where she was declared dead by the doctors. It is being suspected that she might have died of cardiac arrest. The exact reason of his death can ascertained only after the postmortem, Rourkela SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said.

Police have detained some youths on the complaint of the bus driver.

Lugun’s husband, however, refuted reports that she died of illness. “She did not have any health issues. She was beaten to death while on duty at an accident site. Her face had injury marks,” he said.

Reports further interlinked the ASI’s death with that of Rourkela Assistant Collector Sushmita Minj, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a pond on September 19 evening. Sushmita’s brother had earlier claimed the Lugun was assigned the task to ensure his sister’s safety.