Puri: An accused lodged at the Talabania Police Station lock-up allegedly attempted suicide inside the lock-up in the wee hours on Monday.
The accused identified as Kabu Pradhan of Baliguali area in Puri district was immediately rushed to Puri Sadar Hospital after the incident came to the light. He has been discharged after preliminary treatment, said reports.
As per reports, Pradhan, who is reportedly a member of a chain snatching gang active in the pilgrim town, was picked up along with four of his associates on Sunday night by the police while they were planning to execute a robbery in Talabania area.
The five robbers were brought to the Talabania Police Station following the arrest. However, while in the lock-up, Kabu allegedly sustained self-inflicted injuries on his neck and hands. Police sources said that the accused had used a mosquito coil stand to injure him, ostensibly to avoid interrogation.
The police personnel present at the police station stopped him from injuring himself further by overpowering him. They rushed him to the Puri Sadar Hospital for treatment.
After Kabu was discharged from the hospital he, along with the other accused were produced before the court later during the day in connection with the snatching case registered against them.
Puri City DSP Khirasagar Naik said that the accused had received abrasions on his hands from the mosquito coil and therefore he was sent to the hospital for treatment.
Earlier on February 9, an inmate of Nabarangpur sub-jail identified as Ramadhara Bhotra of Dasapaiguda village had died while undergoing treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH).
On February 7, an Under Trial Prisoner (UTP) Sridhar Das lodged at the Puri district jail had died under mysterious circumstances at the DHH.
A 30-year-old youth K Ramesh, a resident of Lokanath Road area of Puri town was picked up by Baselisahi police over some pending cases against him. He allegedly died in the custody on November 18. The police had claimed that Ramesh had got into a fight with the police when the latter detained him.
Hours after he was picked up by the police, Ramesh was admitted to Puri DHH where doctors declared him dead. His family members had alleged that Ramesh died due to police excess while in custody.