Alleging police inaction, 75-yr old man attempts suicide outside Odisha Lok Seva Bhawan

Bhubaneswar: Alleging police inaction despite repeated attempts to seek help in a dispute case, a 75-year-old man allegedly tried to end his life by consuming phenyl outside Odisha Lok Seva Bhawan in the Capital here today. The man, identified as Rabindra Mohan Das of Jagatsinghpur district, was rescued and rushed immediately by the police to Capital Hospital. He resorted to this extreme step claiming police non-cooperation in a case where three persons were trying to usurp his business venture and extorting money from him with death threats.

Das was living in Kalinga Vihar area in Bhubaneswar and had started a salon with an investment of Rs 5,12,800.

As per his written complaint, as soon as he set up the parlour, three persons including his two staff Ajay Barik and Ranjan Barik and house owner Satyabrat Behera started making attempts to take over the business. On October 5, the accused trio even took Rs 50,000 from him by attacking him with a knife and threatened to kill him. Distressed, Das reached out to Tamando police and filed a complaint, not once but four times. But despite the FIRs, police did not co-operate or even register a case. He even tried seeking help by approaching the IIC, DCP, Commissioner and even the DG office but to no avail. Later, he approached Tamando police. The IIC started probe and found that my salon’s lock has been broken and many things missing. He questioned Satyabrat and others where they confessed to have broken the lock and started the daily business. But instead of taking action against them or arresting them, the IIC asked me to hand over the salon to them, Das wrote in his complaint adding that he stood ground that he would hand over the parlour only if he was paid around Rs 3-3.5 lakh but police only forced him to sign a document and handed him a copy of the FIR without any action.

Sources said Das had make similar suicide bids twice over family dispute in the past.