‘Sahanai’ actors stalked in Odisha capital; ‘hi-tech’ Twin City police fails to respond

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Mar 17:

The tall claims of commissionerate police about making the capital city of Odisha a safer place through use of modern technology in the shape of toll-free numbers, CCTV monitoring, use of apps and what not do not stand up to scrutiny if the ordeal of the crew of a popular teleserial is anything to go by.

‘Actor Chinmaya Kumar Mishra (27) and his co-artist Abhipsa Bhanja, who play lead roles in the popular Odia serial “Sahanai’ on the Taranga channel today accused the police of not responding to their desperate calls when they dialed the police emergency number 100 after being stalked by goons late last night.

Chinmaya alleged that while they were returning from their shooting set of Sahanai at Kateni Chhak near SUM hospital in the city in a production house car at around 11.10 pm yesterday, three unidentified persons on a bike followed their vehicle from Sishu Bawan Chhak and tried to stop it.

“The alert driver sped up. When we reached Mausima Chhak, another three unidentified youths, who were apparently waiting for the vehicle, tried to stop us. But they too missed our vehicle. When we moved towards Rabi Talkies from Mausima Square, two youths on a Scooty stopped our car and misbehaved with Abhipsa and used slang against all of us,” said Chinmaya.

“Six other youth, who were following our vehicle, reached us and threatened me and my co-artist to come out of the vehicles. But we somehow escaped safe from their clutches,” he added.

When they dialed the police emergency number 100 at around 11.52 pm for help, the police did not respond to their several attempts, the serial actors alleged.

“Though commissionerate police makes tall claims about launching new applications and equipping itself with the latest technology to fight crime against women, especially at night, we found that they are of no use when one needs them the most,” alleged Abhipsa.

“Today, we both lodged a complaint at Lingaraj police station giving details of our ordeal yesterday night. We have requested the police to investigate the case properly and sought action against the culprits,” said Chinmaya.

On being contacted, the IIC of Lingaraj police station Janardan Padhi said he was busy in the court and will verify the case on his return. “The culprita will be arrested and action will be taken against them,” he said.