Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police on Monday positioned around 1,000 armed cops in Pipili Assembly segment in Puri district to ensure pre-poll harmony and peaceful polling of votes in the by-election to be held on April 17.
Three companies (1 company comprise three platoons of jawans) of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 29 platoons (each platoon comprise 30 personnel) of the Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) and one platoon of Swift Action Force (SAF) have been deployed in the area, Director General of Police Abhay informed newsmen after taking stock of the security arrangements in the constituency today.
Apart from this, 60 state police officers have also been engaged in by-poll duty, the DGP said. The constituency has been divided into several security zones to ensure an incident-free poll. Two ASPs and three DSPs will be in charge of each zone to monitor the law and order situation.
Official sources said as many as 80 critical booths have been identified in the segment.
The DGP also reviewed the pre-poll violence in Pipili at a meeting attended by Director (Intelligence), RK Sharma, and the ADGP (Law and Order), Yashwant Jethwa.
As part of the preventive steps in view of the by-election, the Puri Police has executed 71 licensed armed deposits. As many as 95 proceedings have been submitted while 889 persons bound down under section 107 of CrPC and 51 proceedings submitted while 51 persons bound down under section 110 of CrPC.
The police have executed 82 cases of NBW, 96 Excise cases with the arrest of 96 people. Similarly, 523.900 litres of Illicitly Distilled (ID) liquor has also been seized.
Meanwhile, the Delang police on Monday arrested two persons in connection with the pre-poll violence in which three BJP workers were injured in a clash on Sunday.
The ruling BJD alleged that Labour Minister Sushant Singh’s vehicle was attacked by BJP workers when he had gone to meet some injured party workers at Delang.
A BJD delegation comprising Rajya Sabha MPs Sasmit Patra and Sujit Kumar Monday met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), SK Lohani and demanded stern action against those involved in the attack on the minister’s vehicle and two other party workers. Patra alleged that BJP goons smashed the front and rear windshields of the minister’s car on Sunday.
In a separate press conference, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the BJD of indulging in violence and attempting to capture Pipili seat by means of criminal force. He also alleged that the state police has been working at the behest of the ruling party.
“The Odisha Police is part of the conspiracy hatched by the ruling party not to conduct free and fair elections in Pipili,” Patra said, alleging that instead of arresting criminals facing non-bailable warrants, the police was shielding them.