Raikia: Police arrested 23 villagers Monday evening for staging a road block here in Kandhamal district as it affected the law and order situation. The villagers had blocked the road protesting against failure of the police to trace a youth who has gone missing for over two weeks.
Subhendu Mallick (22), a resident of Raikia Kanyashrama village has remained missing since January 15. The family lodged a complaint at the Raikia police station January 25. Police also registered a case.
The villagers had earlier staged a road block Monday on the Raikia-Baliguda-G Udayagiri road. They accused that the police were not investigating the matter properly. The agitating villagers refused to budge even after assurances by the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Jaykrushna Behera, Tikabali IIC Rebati Sabar and other officers, that the matter would be looked into properly.
When the villagers did not relent to the assurances of the senior police officials, they were arrested Monday evening. Among the arrested there were a couple of members from Subhendu’s family. They were produced in a court here Tuesday and were remanded to police custody till the next hearing.
PNN