BHUBANESWAR: DGP Y.B. Khurania on Wednesday suspended five police personnel, including three women officers, from Bharatpur police station in connection with the alleged police brutality against an Army captain and the molestation of his fiancée in custody and her subsequent arrest for assaulting a woman cop on Sunday.

“The station’s inspector-in-charge, Dinakrushna Mishra, sub-inspector Baisalini Panda, ASIs Salilamayee Sahoo and Sagarika Rath, and constable Balaram Hansda have been suspended for gross misconduct.Disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against them,” a senior police officer said.
On Tuesday night, Mishra, Sahoo, and Hansda were removed from Bharatpur police station on administrative grounds to ensure a fair probe by the state Crime Branch.
The decision to hand over the case to the Crime Branch on Tuesday is seen as a response to the Indian Army reportedly taking a serious view of the alleged assault and ill-treatment meted out to the officer and his fiancée at the police station. The Central Command said in a post on X that the matter “has been taken up with the state authorities.”
The Army officer and his fiancée had gone to Bharatpur police station around 3 a.m. on Sunday, seeking swift action against a group of hooligans who had allegedly abused and assaulted them on the road.
Police claimed the couple appeared to be drunk and started arguing with the cops on duty when told to submit a written complaint. When asked to undergo a breathalyzer test, the woman attacked a woman sub-inspector, police alleged.
Army sources, however, accused the police of manhandling its officer and molesting his fiancée. The woman’s father, a retired brigadier, said: “My daughter was sexually assaulted in custody. She suffered bruises on her face and body. The Army officer, too, was assaulted by the police and illegally detained. To cover up their high-handedness, the police came up with a false narrative and arrested my daughter.”