Cuttack: After the advocates in Cuttack intensified their agitation demanding immediate arrest of accused involved in the attack on a lawyer in Cuttack, the Crime Branch Tuesday night arrested two persons including a Home Guard.
The arrested two, identified as Home Guard Kishore Jena and one Dilip Singh, was taken into the custody of the Crime Branch Tuesday night for violation of Section 41 of the CrPC. Later both the persons were granted bail, said sources.
On the other hand, lawyers in Cuttack will hold a meeting Wednesday to decide on the future course of action. They had staged dharna in front of all government offices in Cuttack and organised picketing Tuesday. Work at the offices of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Cuttack Collector and DRDA have been disrupted following the agitation.
Besides, judicial work in all the courts in Cuttack including High Court has been paralysed due to the cease-work strike being observed by lawyers.
It may be mentioned here that August 28, lawyer Debi Prasanna Pattnaik was allegedly thrashed by police personnel in public view at Shastri Nagar in Nuabazar area. Next day, a police vehicle parked near Revenue Divisional Commissioner’s (RDC) office was torched during a lawyers’ protest against the incident.
Protesting ‘police excess’, the High Court Bar Association had called for the cease-work stir August 30. Cuttack DCP Akhileswar Singh had suspended two Constables—BK Samal and UK Bhuyan and a Havildar PK Behera in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, two PILs have been filed in the Orissa High Court in this connection, seeking judicial enquiry into the whole incident.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K S Jhaveri adjudicating over one of these writ petitions, had instructed the state government to investigate into the incident by a DIG-level officer of the state crime branch police.
PNN