Odisha cop suspended for 'negligence' in teacher's missing and murder case

BHUBANESWAR: The state police headquarters on Thursday suspended Damu Parja, the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Kegaon police station in Odisha's Kalahandi district, for dereliction of duty in connection with the alleged abduction and murder of schoolteacher Mamita Meher.
The move followed after TOI highlighted the alleged negligence of the Kegaon police officials in the case.
Meher, who belonged to Balangir district, used to teach in a private school at Mahaling under the Kegaon police area. On October 8, she told her parents that she was going to meet school president Gobinda Sahu, but never returned home.
A day after she went missing, Meher’s family approached the Kegaon police station to lodge a complaint about her sudden disappearance. But the local police reportedly turned them away. It is being speculated that Sahu being an influential person of the locality and known to be a close aide of the minister of state for home, Dibya Shankar Mishra, the police refused to register the complaint of Meher’s family.
Left with no choice, Meher’s family lodged a missing complaint with the Sindhekela police station in Balangir on October 13.
Meher was allegedly abducted by Sahu in his car from a village under the Sindhekela police limits.
“The Kegaon IIC should have accepted the complaint and registered a missing diary. He instead asked the complainant to approach the Sindhekela police from under whose jurisdiction Meher allegedly went missing. The jurisdiction of a crime should not be an issue if the matter is related to any offence against a woman. The Kegaon IIC’s act amounts to gross misconduct and dereliction of duty,” read the suspension order signed by the director general of police Abhay. During his suspension period, he will remain under the disciplinary control of Kalahandi SP, the order further read.
It must be noted that the Sindhekela police, too, allegedly attempted to hush up the investigation against Sahu despite registering a case. Sources said the Kalahandi police detained Sahu and handed him over to the Sindhekela police on October 14.
Surprisingly, Sahu was not taken to the Sindhekela police station where the case was registered against him. Instead of arresting him, the police kept him at the Titlagarh police barrack in Balangir until October 16, before he fled from there on October 17. Sahu was finally caught by the police on Tuesday and arrested for Meher’s alleged murder the next day.