Nayagarh: The state Crime Branch’s probe into the Maoist attack on Nayagarh police station and hosts of other security establishments in this district in 2008 has come under flak. This is due to the fact that 16 of the 19 accused in the various cases have been acquitted due to lack of evidence. Two of the alleged Maoists, Subhankar and Rabi Dulari died during their tenure in prison. While Subhankar passed away in 2009, Rabi breathed his last in 2021. Officials said that the alleged kingpin behind the attack is top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda.
However, out of the nine cases filed against him, Sabyasachi has been acquitted in five due to lack of evidence, sources pointed out Monday. The acquittal of 16 of the 19 accused has sparked debate as to who was behind the attacks February 15, 2008. People are questioning the way the probe has been conducted by the Crime Branch.
Locals still shudder when they talk about the murderous attack by the red rebels on the police station. In that attack, 15 policemen and a local resident were killed. The impunity with which the raid was conducted completely stunned the district administration and the Odisha government. The Maoists also ransacked the reserve police officer, the police training school (PTS) in this town, the Mahipur police outpost, and Nuagaon police station in the district. Later, they attacked the Daspalla police station, hijacked a coconut-laden truck, and torched the house of the IIC.
During the attack, the rebels raided the armoury at the reserve police office and police training school and decamped with a huge amounts of arms and ammunitions. As per reports then, the Maoists took 50,000 bullets, more than 3,000 grenades, 36 high explosive bombs, and a number of AK-47 rifles. They had brought with them a bus and a mini-truck on which they loaded the arms and ammunition and left the spot.
Since then a number of changes have been carried out for the protection of the police personnel. The police training school has been fortified; the armoury has been shifted close to the SP’s office while new buildings have come up for the police station and the outpost. Advocate Amiya Pattnaik said that the Crime Branch completed the probe in a haphazard manner without gathering sufficient evidence. He pointed out that the Crime Branch failed to prove the presence of the accused at the places where the attacks had been carried out.
Another advocate, Ranjit Dash said that 16 of the accused have gone free simply because the Crime Branch officials failed to take the case to a logical end. Dash also stated that in most of the cases, people failed to identify the accused. He informed that a huge amount of the Odisha government’s money has gone down the drain because of the failure of the Crime Branch sleuths to present the cases in a proper manner. A local resident on condition of anonymity said that the Crime Branch has failed to apprehend the real culprits involved in the attack. As a result of which, the judges were not convinced after hearing the cases.