Talking to media persons here today, IG, Central Range, Soumendra Priyadarshi said acting on a reliable information at about 4.30 PM on Friday a team of Kaliapani Police led by IIC Yubaraj Swain raided Kingola village under Bhuban police station limits and apprehended Pradeep Kumar Pradhan. Police later seized 82 fake currency notes of 100 rupee from his possession.
“The accused was trying to circulate it in the local market finding it to be a safe place for use as the area is denominated by illiterate and innocent tribal people,” the IG said.
He said on the basis of the information provided by Pradeep, police raided Chhachina village under Mangalpur police station limits and arrested Chandramani alias Chandan Bal and seized counterfeit currency notes of 50, 100, 500 & 2000 rupee worth Rs 50,000 from his possession.
Police later arrested Ramesh alias Rameswar Maharana from Nuapada village under K Nuagan police station limits and seized fake counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 26.16 lakh from his possession.
“While Ramesh used to circulate the notes to Pradip, Chandramani was preparing these counterfeit notes. Investigation is on to apprehend other accused who are involved in this racket,” the IG pointed out.
He, however, did not reveal the name of another accused arrested in this case.
"From preliminary investigation it is observed that OSL hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Swain. Stevedoring rivalry at the Paradip port is suspected to be the main reason behind the murder of Swain," said Central range Inspector General (IG) Soumendra Priyadarshi.
Swain was killed by unidentified assailants on October 26 here.
The official added, “Five persons including prime accused Rakesh Choubey of Jamshedpur have been arrested. While Riasat Hussein of Jamshedpur hurled bombs and fired at Swain, Mohammed Samim of Jharkhand helped Hussein to execute the plans.”
Besides, Shiva and Manoj Gochhayat of Cuttack were also involved in the murder case, Priyadarshi said.
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“After the arrest of Rakesh Choubey many things came to the fore. As 40% of the investigation has been undertaken yet, we will take Choubey on remand again to elicit more information. Efforts are on to nab other accused who are still at large. While some of them conspired to murder the Seaways General Manager, some executed the plan. Other accused facilitated the logistics to undertake the crime,” Priyadarshi elaborated.
The Central range IG declined to disclose much about the crime plot due to the sensitiveness of the case.
Police have also seized three revolvers, 50 rounds of bullets, 11 mobile phones, three motor-cycles, a car bearing Jharkhand registration number, an autorickshaw, 11 bottle bombs and some cash he said adding a letter written by the deceased was also seized and examined.
Stating that the murder was planned after monopoly of the stevedoring firm was challenged by another group, the IG said Jamshedpur, Kolkata and Cuttack were the places of entire conspiracy.
Giving details of the arrangements, IG (Operation) Soumendra Priyadarshi said as the deities would come out of the Anasara Gruha tomorrow and give darshan to the devotees in Nabajoubana attire, the State Police have made special arrangements for the smooth darshan of the deities.
“There are two types of darshan of the deities. One is Paramanik darshan in which the devotees buy tickets while the other is Sarbasadharana darshan in which the devotees have darshan without paying anything. As per the arrangement, the Paramanik devotees will be allowed to enter the temple through its southern gate and move through the Panda Dwara and Muduli Dwara and reach the Bahara Katha Dwara from where they will have the darshan of the deities. After the Paramanik darshan is over, the Sarbasadharana darshan will begin in which the devotees will enter into the temple from the Singha Dwara (Main gate) and move through Sata Pahacha and reach the Bahara Katha Dwara from where they will have the darshan of the deities. After the darshan, the devotees will leave the temple through Egara Dwara and Ghanti Dwara,” Priyadarshi told OTV today.
He said elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth darshan of the deities.
“The arrangements will be the same as previous years except the Nabakalebara Rath Yatra last year in which there was no Nabajoubana darshan of the deities,” he pointed out.
The IG also said that during the Nabajoubana darshan, the three chariots would be pulled from the Ratha Khala and placed in front of the Singha Dwara.
“The servitors would bring the Agyan Mala from the temple to the Ratha Khala in time after which the chariots would be pulled. The arrangement will be successful if the servitors and the temple administration ensure timely conduct of rituals,” he added.
Asked whether the State Police is adhering to the recommendations of Justice PK Mohanty Commission of Inquiry that inquired into the death of four devotees in stampede inside the temple on November 4, 2006, Priyadarshi said the recommendation of the Commission will be carried out during the crowded day. “Since it will be a regulated crowd for Nabajoubna darshan, specific police arrangements have been made,” he added.
Meanwhile, a mock drill was held at the Police Barrack here this morning in which all wings of the State Police took part to prepare for any eventuality during the Ratha Jatra.
Present on the occasion, Director General of Police KB Singh said special security arrangements have been made inside the temple, around the three chariots, during the pulling of chariots, for crowd and traffic management for smooth conduct of the festival. “Apart from this, adequate police forces have been deployed along the coastal belts of Puri for security reasons,” he informed.
Asked whether the closure of Samajajpur railway over-bridge would pose any problem for the police in regulating traffic, Singh said this would be a challenge for the police.
But he said the State Police had alerted the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials in this regard and they have promised to restore the affected portion of the bridge by tomorrow and allow plying of light commercial vehicles.
Replying to another question on how the police would manage the traffic at the toll gate near Atharanala on the outskirts of Puri, the DGP said “We have requested the toll gate controlling authorities to allow free flow of traffic on the day of Ratha Jatra on July 6.
Talking about security threat in the wake of ISIS attack in Dhaka, he said the officers have been specifically instructed to keep a strict vigil on the visitors in all hotels in Puri.
Twin city police commissioner Soumendra Priyadarshi said an organised crime and property offences cell has been set up at the office of the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Bhubaneswar, Umashankar Dash in order to prevent robberies, thefts and other property offences.
In addition, two computer applications are being developed to maintain a record of property offenders and stolen items, he said.
“In order to curb property offences, earlier we had formed special teams- Property Offence Prevention and Detection (POPD) team and C60 team at each police station under Bhubaneswar urban police district and at DCP level,” Priyadarshi said.
He said the teams have done phenomenal job and claimed that properly offences have come under control in the past few days. “Huge quantity of stolen goods have been recovered and we managed to return those to many rightful owners,” he said.
“In order to streamline the process, we have taken another initiative today. An organised crime and property offence cell has been set up at the DCP office. In addition, we are trying to develop a computer application, Kundali, by amalgamating data on property offenders. If searched through the app, one can get details regarding the past crime records of any offender,” the CP said.
The second app, Sandhan, is being developed by the Commissionerate Police to maintain record of stolen mobile phones and other property, he said.
“Massive quantity of stolen mobile phones have been recovered. However, it is getting difficult for us to identity their rightful owners. Therefore, we are trying to develop the app by amalgamating all the data regarding the stolen mobile and other property,” he said
“Once the apps are developed, we can track down the crime history of offender and take stringent action against them besides returning the recovered items to the original owners smoothly,” the CP added.
As per reports, Additional Director General (ADG) of Police Pranabindu Acharya has been given charge of the Railway security. He will be assisted by the Cuttack Superintendent Railway Police (SRP).
The government has assigned ADG Sanjeeb Panda to take charge of overall police arrangement during the mega religious event. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Soumendra Priyadarshi and Puri SP Umashankar Das have been directed to assist Panda in overseeing the management.
Apart from assisting ADG Sanjeeb Panda, Soumendra Priyadarshi will also be in charge of supervising police arrangement inside the temple including liasioning with the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and servitor nijogs for smooth conduct of rituals from Nabajauban Darshan till Niladri Bije of the festival.
Intelligence IG RK Sharma will supervise security and special branch arrangements in the pilgrim city whereas IG Special Armed Police (SAP) Amitabh Thakur will look into the traffic arrangements during the festival.
SP, CID, CB, Cuttack Madkar Sandeep Sampat and SP, STF Rahul PR have been asked to assist Amitabh Thakur in supervising traffic arrangements.
Asheet Kumar Panigrahi, IG of Police (Headquarters) has been allotted the responsibility to supervise arrangements of the crowd control management.
This apart, Arun Bothra, IG of Police (crime branch) will supervise the arrangements and crowd control within and adjacent to the cordons around the three chariots during pulling of the chariots of the Holy Trinity.
The police officers will be in charge of their new assignments from the period of Deva Snana Purnima on June 17 to Niladri Bije on July 15 in Puri.
Around 155 platoons of police force will be deployed in the pilgrim city during Rath Yatra, informed Inspector General of Police (Central Range) Soumendra Priyadarshi after the third Rath Yatra coordination committee meeting held under chairmanship of Law Minister Pratap Jena here on Thursday.
“A total of 155 platoons of force and over 1,000 officers will be engaged during the festival in the city. Besides, five IGPs, Additional DG and DGP will monitor the arrangements,” said Priyadarshi.
Two companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) of CRPF and three companies of Odisha Swift Action Force will be deployed. Over 7,000 police personnel will be deployed for Rath Yatra this year, Priyadarshi said adding that the repair of CCTVs installed at different places is being undertaken on a war footing and all the CCTV cameras will be restored before Rath Yatra.
A special team comprising officials of the Health Department and led by the Puri Collector will be formed to review the crumbled healthcare facilities in the district. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to keep five ambulances ready on the stretch between Puri and Bhubaneswar. NHAI officials have been directed asked to remove encroachments on highway to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic during the festival.
The Electricity department has also been directed to restore power supply in the district by June 30. It is pertinent to mention here that the power infrastructure in Puri suffered massive damage during Cyclone Fani which hit the State on May 3. Power supply is yet to be restored in several parts of Puri district.
As per official sources, 192 trains will run to Puri during the festival and the Railways will make arrangements to set up ticket booking counters at 62 places across the State including Puri.
The status of the Shree Jagannath Bana Prakalpa was also discussed during the meeting and the Forest Department has been asked to submit a report on the project within three months.
According to detail itinerary, the bathing rituals are likely to take place between 11 and 2 pm. After the conduct of Chhera Panhara by Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, the Lords will be dressed up for public darshan in the form of Hati Besha during Sahana Mela.
Sources said, the devotees will have darshan of the deities much closer than before as they will be allowed to pass along the Snana Mandap through Kirtan Chakada and Horse door. After having darshan of the Holy Trinity, devotees can return back through the three main gates.
Senior Daitapati Binayak Das Mohapatra said the Hati Besha of the Lords will be held between 3 to 4 pm.
“I have come to Puri to have darshan of Lord Jagannath on Snana Purnima as it is considered to be very pious,” said a devotee.
Meanwhile, ahead of the bathing rituals of the dieties, the district administration has made elaborate security arrangements headed by IG Central range Soumendra Priyadarshi for the smooth conduct of the holy bath rituals of the three deities of Srimandir.
Around 42 platoons of police force, three commandants, nine ASPs and 16 DSPs, one section of Special Tactical Unit (STU) and 224 officers will be in charge of the security at the Srimandir during the Snana Yatra.
To ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic, the city has been divided into four parking zones near Jagannath Ballav, district school, SCS College.
After reviewing police arrangements for Snana Yatra, Puri SP Umashankar Das said, “As heavy turnout of devotees is expected inside the temple, ticket holders will be allowed to enter through the south gate to witness pahandi darshan of the deities. Besides, special arrangement has been made for Sahana Mela.”
Barricades will also be put up during pahandi so that servitors can enter and conduct the pahandi rituals without any hassles.
CCTV cameras installed inside the temple have been restored. Special provisions have been made for parking of two wheeler vehicles from Town police station to Market Chhak in the city. Similarly, eight places have been identified for parking of light vehicles, the SP added.
Priyadarshi further informed that the gangster will be brought in remand by the police for interrogation. A special team of officials will be formed who will grill Hyder to elicit information.
Besides, an investigation into the security arrangements at the SCB Hospital from where Hyder fled will be conducted by the police.
“The Commissionerate Police with the help of Hyderabad and Telangana Police successfully nabbed the criminal after 120 hours of operation yesterday. Now in the second phase, our responsibility is to find out how, in which circumstances and who were involved his escape from the SCB Hospital,” said Priyadarshi.
“Hyder was produced in a local court in Sangareddy district of Telangana late in the night yesterday and brought to Odisha on transit remand through a flight today. He arrived at the Bhubaneswar airport today and is being taken to Cuttack now,” he said.
Based on a complaint registered against him at Mangalabag Police Station, Hyder will be produced before a court in Cuttack and brought in remand for interrogation. Strict action will be taken against those who were involved in the matter,” further said Priyadarshi.
“When a gangster like him escapes from police custody, this means it is pre-planned and throws a big challenge for the cops,” stated the Twin City Police Commissioner.
He is not a straight-faced cop. Priyadarshi's unassuming demeanour and amiable outlook belie his tough operational prowess. However, it is these two non-cop traits that come in handy in collecting operational inputs against criminal gangs or Red terror for the seasoned officer.
THE TACTICAL COP
Cut to the year 2005. As the SP in Cuttack, Priyadarshi had busted the D-company of Ollywood aka the Dawood Ibrahim (D-gang) in Bollywood. The people of Odisha then woke up to how a sharpshooter and dreaded criminal (Dipu) had a deeply entrenched grip over the Ollywood, especially the Album industry, in the State.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVL4wLwqvA4
Moreover, during his tenure in Cuttack, Priyadarshi had also cracked the whip on the tender fixing industry. Significantly, the State government (BJD-BJP) had then made this tender fixing a poll issue.
It is this crackdown on the organised gangs that had caught the imagination of CM Naveen Patnaik then. And in the year 2013, Priyadarshi had been asked to head the anti-Naxal operations in the State.
"After taking charge in July 2013 as IG (Operations), Priyadarshi's anti-Naxal strategy helped in bringing a sharp drop in fatalities of security forces. Similarly, the killing of informers (say civilians) dropped from 31 in 2014 to a mere 6 in 2019," said a senior IPS officer who was Koraput SP during that period.
THE CHARIOTEER OF NAVEEN PATNAIK
When CM Naveen Patnaik appeared clueless on how to deal with the unruly servitors of Puri Shree Jagannath Temple, especially when every year the pahandi rituals during the annual Rath Yatras get delayed for long, he had chosen operational specialist Priyadarshi as the OSD (Officer on Special Duty) for the Nabakalebar Festival.
He had also been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring smooth conduction of 9-day Rath Yatra fest, and ensure no law and order problem from day 1 to 9, when stampedes, poor crowd management and often-violation of regulations by servitors had been hitting the headlines bringing more embarrassment to the State government.
NEW ROLE
Before being posted as the Twin City Police commissioner, he had been the ADG (Additional Director General Of Police) Crime.
When as ADG crime, his task was to deliberate with all the IG, DIGs and SPs at the district level to chalk out a crime control strategy, with suitable modifications done at the district level by SPs. As the new Police Commissioner, the challenge before him is to use his tactical intelligence to the hilt in controlling growing street crimes in the twin city, especially in Bhubaneswar.
BRIEF BIO OF PRIYADARSHI