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Suspended railway cop beaten to death for sexually assaulting women in Odisha; video goes viral
Bhubaneswar DCP said that mob attacked Swain because he seemed out of his mind and was behaving abnormally at the time of the incident.
A suspended railway cop was beaten to death and another critically injured after a mob attacked them on Thursday on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, following allegations that the duo sexually assaulted two women.
The incident took place near a bridge at Ramchandrapur under Balianta police station limits on the Hanspal–Nimapara road around 11.30 am, news agency PTI reported.
According to police, the deceased has been identified as Soumya Ranjan Swain, a suspended constable of the Government Railway Police (GRP), Cuttack. The other injured man is Om Prakash Mohanty.
What happened on Bhebaneshwar road
Quoting the women's complaint, commissioner of Police S Dev Datta Singh said that the two people allegedly intercepted a scooter in which two women were travelling. The women fell down on the road after they were pushed by the two men on a motorbike.
“The duo physically attacked them, and one attempted to sexually assault a woman,” Biranchi Narayan Jena, a passerby who witnessed the incident, told reporters.
The situation escalated quickly as the women raised an alarm, drawing a large crowd that attacked the two men before police arrived. Both the victims and the accused were later taken to hospital.
A purported video showing the man being assaulted and later shifted to hospital with his hands tied has gone viral on social media, further intensifying public outrage. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip.
Accused behaved abnormally
Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena noted that mob attacked Swain because he seemed out of his mind and was behaving abnormally at the time of the incident. “Even he attempted to bite the police personnel when they were rescuing him,” the DCP added, the PTI report added.
The DCP said two FIRs have been registered—one related to murder and another for attempt to rape.
“The two men, who were on a bike, first overtook the two women on a scooter, then returned and assaulted the ladies. The locals and nearby people rescued the two women and assaulted the two men. One of them died,” he said.
CM orders vigilance
Expressing grief over the incident, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi directed senior police officials to ensure such incidents do not recur.
He asked DGP YB Khurania to remain vigilant against mob lynching cases and maintain strict law and order.
The Chief Minister also spoke to the chairperson of the State Commission for Women, Sobhna Mohanty, and suggested she meet the victims of the alleged assault on Friday.
A statement issued by the CMO said "The CM has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident and strict action against the culprits". It also added that four people have been arrested so far in connection with the mob lynching.
Opposition slams government
The incident triggered sharp political reactions in the state with Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly and BJD president Naveen Patnaik strongly criticised the government, calling the incident “barbaric”.
In a post on X, he said, “The incident at Balianta, near Bhubaneswar, where a young man was beaten to death in broad daylight, is utterly barbaric. Even as such a heinous event unfolds near the state capital, the government's inexplicable silence is shocking the people of the state.”
He further questioned the law and order situation, saying, “If such incidents are occurring in the presence of police, to whom will people turn for protection? Why is the police administration and the government so helpless before criminals?”
He also warned that if such incidents can occur near the state capital, the situation in other parts of the state could be worse.
(With PTI inputs)
