Man dies in forest dept custody, mob sets forest beat house on fire
Bhubaneswar (PTI): A mob set fire to a forest beat house in Odisha's Cuttack district after a villager detained by the forest department died in its custody, an officer said on Monday.
Fifty-nine-year-old Dhaneswar Behera, a resident of Khuntakata Satagochhia village, was picked up by forest department officials of Athagarh area on Sunday on charge of poaching a tusker and removing its tusks.
However, Dhaneswar was found dead while in forest department custody following which irate villagers staged a road blockade at Badabasuni Chhak.
The local residents along with Behera's wife Tulasi alleged that her husband was hacked to death by forest officials. The mob also set fire to the forest beat house, police said.
Dhaneswar was picked up by forest officials while he was returning from his daughter's house on Sunday night, Tulasi said.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Devidutta Biswal said a senior official of forest department has rushed to Athagarh to probe the incident.
"Stringent action will be taken if any official was found to have applied third degree on the accused inside the custody. The post-mortem report will reveal the truth", the PCCF said.
Meanwhile, 15 forest officials including two assistant conservators of forest (ACF) were detained by police following Behera's death. They have been detained at Athagarh police station.
Forest officials on January 31 had recovered a carcass of an elephant with tusks missing in Hipinda Reserve forest under Badamba range. Dhaneswar was picked up on suspicion of being a poacher, forest officials said, adding, that he, however, died in the custody.
The forest department agreed to pay Rs 4.79 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased and a job for his son. The police have deployed three platoons of force as tension prevailed in the area, said SDPO, Athagarh, Bijay Bisi.
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Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee holds roadshow in south Kolkata to end campaign
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee undertook a roadshow in south Kolkata spanning over six kilometres on Monday afternoon at the fag end of campaigning for the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly election.
The TMC chief was accompanied by party Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose and candidates Aroop Biswas and Debasish Kumar from Tollygunge and Rashbehari, respectively.
People waiting on the roadside and on rooftops and balconies waved at Banerjee as she greeted them with folded hands, walking briskly, as her party compatriots had a tough time keeping pace with her.
The chief minister is contesting from the Bhabanipur assembly seat, where she is pitted against her bete noire, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, who defeated her in the 2021 elections in Nandigram.
Banerjee was subsequently elected from Bhabanipur in a byelection.
The roadshow started at Sukanta Setu in the Jadavpur area and culminated at Gopalnagar crossing, past her Kalighat residence, with two small stopovers in between.
TMC flags, festoons, cutouts of Banerjee and banners with slogans in favour of the candidates adorned the roadsides through which the road show passed and culminated at around 5.30 pm.
A large number of TMC supporters participated in the roadshow that Banerjee conducted to end her campaign for the 2026 assembly election in West Bengal.
