Man tied to pole and beaten to death in Odisha’s Ganjam; 7 arrested

Is Talibani governance now dominant in Odisha? Such questions have cropped up after a man was allegedly beaten to death on suspicion of theft in Odisha Chief Minister’s Naveen Patnaik’s constituency in Ganjam district’s Chingudighai village under Purusottampur police limits, recently.

The matter came to light after a video of the brutal torture and assault went viral on social media. Such brutality happened in the presence of several children and the incident has now sent shockwaves across the state. The deceased has been identified as Bahuda Sahoo of Puri district.

According to sources, Bahuda Sahoo was earlier detained on suspicion of being a thief. Later, a group of villagers tied Sahoo to a pole and thrashed him with wooden sticks and bricks. Later, the villagers disposed Bahuda’s body near a primary school.

The matter came to light after deceased Bahuda Sahoo’s brother had lodged a police complaint in connection with the incident.

It is not for the first time that such a gruesome incident has been reported from Ganjam district. Earlier, a woman was also killed on suspicion of practicing witchcraft, some five to six months back at Kabisuryanagar.

It is pertinent to mention here that Police had set up a committee in the village and it failed to get information about such an incident.

“Police administration is to be blamed for the incident. There is law and anybody taking law into their own hands should be dealt with firmly, “said Kunjabihari Panda, an advocate.

Meanwhile, police had earlier arrested five persons in connection with the incident. On Sunday, two more persons were nabbed, taking the total arrests in the case to seven.

“Some people had thrashed a man suspecting him to be a thief and later disposed of his body. On getting information, a probe was initiated and several arrests were made. Police would had certainly acted and rescued the man, had we got the information, “said SDPO Purushottampur, Rajanikant Samal.