An angry mob today set ablaze the office of a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and damaged police vehicles at Titlagarh in Odisha's Balangir district, demanding arrest of police personnel for the death of a man allegedly due to torture at the police station.
The incident took place this afternoon when a mob of hundreds attacked the SDPO's office, destroyed furniture there before setting it on fire and damaged six police vans alleging that Basant Pradhan of Hatapadapada village under Titlagarh police station limit died due to police torture.
Though there was no case against him, Basant was 'picked up' by police on June 10 in a mobile phone theft case and was released five days later on June 15, Basant's kin Anant Pradhan alleged.
The day he was released Basant was admitted to a hospital after he complained of body pain and died this morning due to 'internal injuries', Anant alleged.
Though nobody was arrested so far, Balangir SP R Prakash said that the matter would be handed over to Crime Branch for impartial and better probe.
"Locals are alleging that the youth died because of police torture. We will definitely take action in this," Additional SP Balangir Sunil Joshi said.
"The post mortem will be done by doctors from outside. And the persons, against whom allegations are being made, will be charged under Section 302 of the IPC," Joshi added.
Additional police force has been deployed to control the situation as tension prevailed in Titlagarh town following the incident, the Additional SP said.
