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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Hubballi murder: Mother of accused demands strict punishment for son
Says it was Neha who made first move and took his phone number
Hubballi (Karnataka), Apr 20: The mother of 23-year-old Fayaz, who killed daughter of a Congress councillor inside a college campus in Hubballi, apologised to the victim Neha's family for her son's act and demanded strict punishment for him.
There have been protests in several parts of the state demanding capital punishment for Fayaz, who has been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred on April 18.
With folded arms and tears in eyes, the accused's mother Mamtaz, a teacher said, "I apologise to the people of Karnataka as well as Neha's family for what my son has done. It is a great injustice to Neha and her family.
"What my son has done is completely wrong and we hang our heads in shame. What he did is a big mistake and he should be given strict punishment as per the law of the land," she said.
ALSO READ: Congress Corporator's daughter stabbed to death inside college campus in Hubballi
Speaking to reporters in Dharwad, she said that her son and Neha were not just friends but that they were in love and wanted to marry.
Recalling Neha as a good girl, Mamtaz said she came to know about their relationship a year ago.
"It was Neha who made the first move and took his phone number. My son did tell me about Neha and that he was in love with her and they wanted to get married. But I had suggested that he first focus on his career.
"My son was very brilliant and always secured above 90 percent marks since LKG and UKG days. He wanted to become an IAS officer and was also a University Blue (bodybuilding competition) champion," she said.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Saturday visited the victim's family and offered condolences.
Condemning the incident, he said, "It was an inhumane act. The way Fayaz murdered Neha, it was inhumane. It is a condemnable act and I insist that the state government, Chief Minister and Home Minister conduct an impartial and speedy inquiry into the matter."
The murder of the daughter of the city corporation councillor on the campus of her college here has sparked widespread condemnation and protests.
The issue has snowballed into a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP in Karnataka. While the ruling party has tried to project it as an "incident with a personal angle", the saffron party suspects "love jihad" and said that it points to the "deterioration of law and order" in the state.
Neha (23), the daughter of Congress Councillor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College on Thursday. The accused Fayaz Khondunaik, who fled the scene, was arrested by police subsequently.
Neha was a first-year MCA student and Fayaz was her former classmate.
According to a senior police officer, Fayaz stabbed her multiple times. During interrogation, he claimed that the two had been in a relationship but she had been avoiding him of late.
"It needs to be corroborated and verified, but he was arrested immediately," the officer said.
In Munavalli, Fayaz's hometown in Belagavi district, the incident sparked outrage and demonstrations have been held by various organisations condemning the murder.
The victim's family has been demanding that the accused be hanged to death and only then will their daughter's soul rest in peace.
