Odisha begins probe into Barabati bottle-pelting

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 8:

Odisha government’s principal secretary Home Asit Kumar Tripathy today began his inquiry into the bottle-pelting incident at the Barabati Stadium during the India versus South Africa T20 International match on October 5.

Tripathy in his report will recommend to the government on how such unsavory incidents are not repeated in the future.

“I will start the inquiry today. I will offer suggestions to the government on how such incidents are not repeated in the future,” said Tripathy speaking to reporters at the state secretariat here today.

On the other hand, Sports Secretary Saswat Mishra today said his department would provide required support and cooperation during the course of inquiry.

“The Chief Minister has asked the Home secretary to submit a report after conducting an inquiry. You should please wait till inquiry report is out. My department will certainly provide information on how such tournaments are held, organized etc to the Home department if it seeks so from us,” said Mishra.

The Commissionerate Police taking suo moto cognizance of the incident has registered a case against the unruly crowd at Cantonment police station on Wednesday.

“You all know that the Home secretary is doing the inquiry, wait for the inquiry to be completed. Sure police will provide all information sought by the Home secretary during the inquiry,” said Sanjeev Marik DGP to reporters.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday ordered a probe into the incident causing embarrassment to the state government as well as the cricket fans. He had directed the Principal Secretary of Home department to inquire into the matter and submit a report within a month.

The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) Wednesday evening submitted a report to the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) on the bottle-pelting incident in response to BCCI president Shashank Manohar directive to the OCA to file a report on the incident within 48 hours.