Odisha villagers protest patriarch’s arrest; detain officials

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Kendrapara, Feb 6:

Over 200 villagers, including women, detained the Rajnagar Tehsildar, Sub Collector, and other staff inside the office on Thursday protesting the arrest of a village patriarch who had allegedly prevented the district administration from an eviction drive at Bagapatia in Odisha’s Kendrapara district.

The resentment over relocation and resettlement of Satabhaya villagers to Bagapatia under Gupti Panchayat turned ugly yesterday after the village veteran Manguli Charan Parida was picked up from his home late at around 2 AM and taken to an undisclosed location.

The detainee was formally arrested under 143, 186, 149, 506 and 7 of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. A case (No. 18/15) was registered against the village head and was produced before Rajnagar SDJM court in the afternoon and sent to Balimula jail till February 11 as his bail plea was rejected.

The arrest of the village senior evoked a sharp reaction among the villagers following which over 200 villagers’ gheraoed the Rajnagar Tehsildar’s office at around 2 PM. They gheraoed the Tehsildar office and prevented the Tehsildar, Sub Collector, and other staff from going out of the office till late in the evening.

Earlier on January 28, a team comprising Kendrapara Sub Collector Kanhu Charan Dhir, Additional Sub Collector Gagan Bihari Sahoo, Tehsildar Kshirod Kumar Behera and Revenue Inspector (RI) Sanjib Kumar Sahoo had visited the relocation site at Bagapatia with bulldozer and one platoon police force. The district administration officials had identified 132. 97 acre land on which fencing was to be done and illegal encroachment was to be razed.

However, Manguli Charan Parida, along with his over 300 supporters, blocked their entry and prevented them from performing their duties. Rajnagar Tehsildar Kshirod Kuamar Behera filed a written complaint with Rajnagar police station against Manguli.

Acting on the complaint, Rajnagar IIC Bijay Kumar Mallick picked up Manguli from his house post midnight and deployed two platoons police force in the village.