Rourkela: The postmortem of lady police officer Alice Narmi Lugun was conducted here Tuesday after which the body was handed over to her family members. Alice’s family members had objected to the post-mortem without the inclusion of Section 302 of the IPC in the FIR. After the police relented Tuesday, they allowed the post-mortem to be conducted. “The post-mortem was over by Tuesday afternoon. Later, the deceased police officer was given a Guard of Honour and the body was handed over to her family members,” Rourkela SP Mitrabhanu Mahapatra told reporters.
Meanwhile in a separate development Tuesday, tribal leader and former Biramitrapur MLA George Tirkey staged a demonstration in front of the Rourkela SP’s office demanding a CBI investigation into the controversial Sushmita Minz death case. “Both the deaths are inter-linked. The attack on Alice, a key officer investigating the Sushmita death case, happened in a pre-planned manner. It is very interesting to note that the police are now saying that Alice was the investigating officer in the Sushmita case,” George said. “The government is trying to play the tribal card against tribals. It appointed a tribal officer and also sent the BDO and CDPO of Gurundia, who are also tribals, to Sushmita’s home. We are not going to be fooled by this,” George added. George with nearly one thousand supporters under the ‘Justice for Sushmita’ platform reached the SP’s office around 12 noon.
However, there were no untoward incidents as four platoons of police had turned the SP’s office into a fortress. Roadblocks were also put up at strategic locations to prevent movement of demonstrators. George also criticised the manner in which Alice’s death is being handled. “Why was there such a delay in incorporating Section 302 of the IPC in the FIR? It only happened after Alice’s family and we applied pressure on the police,” George said. He also informed that they will move to court if the state government does not initiate a CBI probe into the death of Sushmita.