Odisha Man Dies In Forest Department Custody, Mob Sets Beat House On Fire

A mob set fire to a forest beat house in Odisha's Cuttack district after a villager detained by the forest department died in its custody, an officer said on Monday.

Fifty-nine-year-old Dhaneswar Behera, a resident of Khuntakata Satagochhia village, was picked up by forest department officials of Athagarh area on Sunday on charge of poaching a tusker and removing its tusks.

However, Dhaneswar was found dead while in forest department custody following which irate villagers staged a road blockade at Badabasuni Chhak.

The local residents along with Behera's wife Tulasi alleged that her husband was hacked to death by forest officials. The mob also set fire to the forest beat house, police said.

Dhaneswar was picked up by forest officials while he was returning from his daughter's house on Sunday night, Tulasi said.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Devidutta Biswal said a senior official of forest department has rushed to Athagarh to probe the incident.

"Stringent action will be taken if any official was found to have applied third degree on the accused inside the custody. The post-mortem report will reveal the truth", the PCCF said.

Meanwhile, 15 forest officials including two assistant conservators of forest (ACF) were detained by police following Behera's death. They have been detained at Athagarh police station. Forest officials on January 31 had recovered a carcass of an elephant with tusks missing in Hipinda Reserve forest under Badamba range. Dhaneswar was picked up on suspicion of being a poacher, forest officials said, adding, that he, however, died in the custody.

The forest department agreed to pay Rs 4.79 lakh compensation to the family of the man and a job for his son. The police have deployed three platoons of force as tension prevailed in the area, said SDPO, Athagarh, Bijay Bisi.

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