Family Suspects Police Excesses In Death Of Youth In Sonepur

Sonepur: Family members of a youth from Phatamunda village in Agalpur block in Sonepur district on Friday alleged police excesses for his untimely death.

According to sources, police had resorted to lathicharge after a group of people hurled eggs at the campaign vehicle of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during a roadshow in Balangir district on April 15. Some people, including the deceased Niranjan Sahu, were also detained.

As Sahu became critical in the police station, his family members brought him to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Dunguripalli on Thursday night. The doctors pronounced him ‘brought dead’.

Talking to the media, brother of the deceased, Nakula Sahu, said he suffered from no illness. “I suspect that he might have sustained serious internal injuries due to severe thrashing by the police,” he added.

Stating that the deceased was received brought dead, Dr Sanatan Meher of the Dunguripalli CHC said the exact reason of the death will be known only after they receive the postmortem report.

Sonepur SP Debi Prasad Das on Friday said the doctor at Dunguripalli CHC, in an intimation to the local police, said that Sahu could have died due to suspected heat stroke.

“On the basis of the intimation of the doctor, police later registered an UD (unnatural death) case. The inquest report, as seen by the brother of the deceased, states that the death of the deceased was due to the heat stroke. We have handed over the body to the family members after the postmortem at the CHC in Binika this morning,” the SP added.