According to sources, 270 accused in custody were granted bail on the first day of the camp courts held at various jails across the State.
In Kendrapara jail, 157 accused were granted bail. In Choudwar, out of 56 persons who got bail, 26 were released. Similarly, 29 bail petitions were heard in Karanjia jail, 9 in Barbil, 7 in Rairangpur, 8 in Jagatsinghpur and 4 each in Soro, Anandpur and Champua.
"My husband was arrested without any crime. I have come here to take him out on bail," said Rupa Mallick, wife of an accused in custody.
Sushant Behera, brother of another accused, in Sambalpur said "My brother was arrested in a liquor-related case and is in jail for the last 2 months. After the court's order, we are here to take him out on bail."
"A camp court is currently running inside the jail after an order was given by the High Court," Jail Superintendent of Choudwar, Ravindra Kumar Swain, said.
On the other hand, agitating lawyers protested against the camp courts. Tension prevailed in places like Jajpur, Keonjhar, Udala, and Kamakshyanagar after the protesting lawyers stopped judges from entering the jail premises.
The Orissa High Court on Saturday had directed the District & Sessions Judges to hold camp courts in jails to meet the extraordinary situation across the State arising out of prolonged abstinence of work by advocates.
The HC in a letter had instructed the District & Sessions Judges to hold camp courts for hearing bail pleas of accused in custody to address over-crowding in various jails across the state due to the lawyers’ stir.
The mob also torched almost all the vehicles kept on the police station premises.
To bring situation under control, police resorted to lathicharge after some agitators pelted stones and scuffled with the cops. Senior police officials including Sambalpur SP Sanjeev Arora have been monitoring the situation at the spot. As many as 7 platoons of police force have been deployed at the spot to control the situation.
Several people have been injured during the scuffle with police and admitted to hospital.
As per information, the locals went berserk after one Abinash Munda of Bhalupali village, who was arrested in connection with a theft case on Wednesday, was found hanging in the lockup on Thursday.
Family members alleged that Abinash was also brutally beaten up by cops as the body had injury marks at several places.
Irate over the incident, locals staged a road blockade near Bhalupali affecting vehicular traffic on Sambalpur-Jharsuguda road today morning.
Police took the body to district headquarters hospital and conducted inquest in presence of magistrate and family members. Later, they sent the body to VSS Medical College and Hospital in Burla for post-mortem.
On the one hand, the family members of the deceased alleged that Munda was beaten to death in the custody while the police claimed that he had committed suicide.
Briefing mediapersons, DGP RP Sharma said the IIC of the Ainthapali police station Srimanta Barik and other staff including the Diary Charge Officer (DCO) and Sentry in charge have been placed under suspension and strong departmental action will be initiated against them.
"The task of investigation of the case pertaining to the death of the accused in the custody has been given to the HRPC. Apart from this, Northern Range IG has been asked to conduct an independent inquiry at his level and submit a report quickly. Sambalpur SP has also been asked to submit a joint report with the District Magistrate as per the mandatory requirement and all possible and strong action will be ensured by the police," Sharma said.
Human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo had drawn the attention of the rights panel alleging that Mahanga police had unlawfully detained one Jagannath Das in police lockup handcuffing the accused. The victim was meted out both physical and mental torture as he had not committed any cognizable offence.
The human rights panel had ordered probe into the ‘unsavoury’ episode by the investigation Wing of the Commission. The commission taking cognizance of probe findings furnished by the investigating wing issued directions the DGP to take appropriate steps to take to task against two policemen who had fettered the accused.
“The liberty of the victim Das was curtailed by putting him under fetters ad it smacks off highhandedness on part of the accused police officers despite the direction of the apex court. There are numerous instances where in a routine manner without any specific orders of the magistrate, the police are handcuffing persons who are picked up even on suspicion of commission of an offence, and the present case is one of such examples”, Justice B. K. Mishra, acting chairman of the rights commission, adjudicating the matter ruled.
It needs no emphasis that the guarantee of human dignity forms part of our Constitutional culture as embodied in Articles of 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Even a prisoner is a person and not an animal. Handcuffing is prima facie inhuman and, therefore, unreasonable. To bind a man in hand and foot, fetter his limbs with hoops of steel, shuffle him along in the street and stand him for hours in the courts is to torture him, and defile his dignity, the commission observed.
The arrest comes a week after the Income Tax Department raided Khaitan's offices and various other properties in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
It is learned that the Department has gathered evidence against the lawyer for allegedly receiving kickbacks in other defence deals, besides AgustaWestland, during the UPA tenure.
The ED said that the lawyer had been "controlling" the modus operandi and was responsible for routing the money, misusing his connections and clients, including the ones inherited from his father, to launder the money with the use of a variety of accounts in Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore, Tunisia, Switzerland, the UK and India.
Agency officials said the accounts included those of his undisclosed shell companies outside of India.
An informed source told IANS that the ED has also found a Zambia connection of Khaitan. He is known to be close to Henry Banda, one of the three sons of former President Rupiah Banda, who is accused of abusing his authority as head of state between 2008 and 2011.
Dingani Banda received 250,000 euros from IDS Tunisia, a company that laundered money in the AgustaWestland scam, the source added.
Khaitan apparently helped set up trust and companies for Henry Banda in Seychelles to buy a property in Kenya.
The ED as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named Khaitan in their separate chargesheets in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.
Khaitan was arrested in September 2014 for his alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland deal.
He got bail in January 2015 and was again arrested along with Sanjeev Tyagi, another accused in the case, on December 9, 2016, by the CBI. He later secured bail.
The CBI chargesheet has described Khaitan as the brain behind the AgustaWestland deal.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to quiz Michel till December 15.
The CBI had sought five days' custody of Michel.
Special Public Prosecutor D.P. Singh told the court Michel is required to be taken to Mumbai and also needed to be confronted with some documents.
Michel's defence counsel had opposed the plea for further extension of custody.
The middleman was presented in the court after a five-day CBI custody. He was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017, Jadhav says in the video that he had "not been subjected to any sort of torture in Pakistan".
He also thanked the Pakistan government for letting him meet his mother Avanti and wife Chetankul. "This gesture was a positive one... I feel happy."
The death row is heard saying in the video released by the Pakistan Foreign Office: "The Indian person or diplomat accompanying my mother and wife started yelling at them as soon as they stepped out of the meeting."
Pakistani authorities arranged the meeting between Jadhav and his family on December 25 -- through a glass panel -- but did not allow a private discussion. Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh was not seated with the family.
Jadhav, 47, says in the video that he "saw fear" in the eyes of his mother and wife when they met them in Islamabad, Dawn online reported.
"I saw fear... why should there be fear? What all has happened has happened," Jadhav said, adding his family was "threatened".
He said: "I am a Commissioned officer in the Indian Navy - my Commission is not over."
On December 26, India denounced Pakistan for its handling of the visit, saying they were harassed and prevented from talking to Jadhav freely.
New Delhi denies Jadhav is a spy and says he was abducted from Iran where he had business interests. Islamabad claims he was arrested in the restive province of Balochistan.