Cop in Hanuman coin row flees from hospital

Balasore: Surendra Nath Nayak, the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Remuna police station in the district, who has been accused of ransacking the house of a tribal in faraway Malakangiri in his search for an elusive Hanuman coin, fled from the district headquarters hospital here on Tuesday.

The matter came to light after the hospital authorities filed a complaint with Town police station here today.

Police sources said Nayak was involved in trade in Hanuman coin during his tenure in Malkangiri police station. He was supposed to depose before the Malkangiri police in the matter on August 13.

He, however didn’t depose before the police, and visited a doctor at the district headquarters hospital here on August 13 complaining of chest pain. The doctor at the hospital advised Nayak to get admitted to the hospital. But Nayak didn’t turn up in the ward for treatment.

The Town police has registered a case against Nayak in this regard.

According to sources in the police, Nayak had barged into and ransacked the house of one Irma Madhi in Gotijodi village in Padmapur area of Malkangiri district in the company of three others looking for a Hanuman coin after a businessman from West Bengal offered him Rs 10 crore for it.

He is reported to have beaten up Irma.

Mistaking them for burglars, villagers had chased them down with bows and arrows, but Nayak and his accomplices had somehow managed to escape.