“Dhaneswar Beaten to Death Before My Eyes in Forest Dept Custody”: Says Eyewitness

Bhubaneswar: An eyewitness has openly alleged that the alleged death of a poacher in forest department custody in the Badamba forest range under Cuttack’s Athgarh division occurred before his eyes. This eyewitness claimed that the ACF, the ranger and other staff of the forest department had beaten Dhaneswar Behera to death in front of him.

Dhaneswar Behera of Khuntakata Satagochhia village was taken into custody by the forest department officials on Sunday in relation to poaching a tusker and removing its tusks. Dhaneswar died while in forest department custody, triggering tension in the area.

Rajkishore Pradhan, a resident of Shyamsundarpur on Tuesday claimed before the media that the ACF, the ranger, and other staff beat Dhaneswar had mercilessly beaten Dhaneswar to death with lathis.

According to Rajkishore, he and Dhaneswar were among the three persons picked up by the forest department.  They were first taken to Huguda forest and then to Khuntuni forest, where the DFO, the ACF, five to six foresters and Badamba ranger were waiting for them. Rajakishore said, all of them were ruthlessly beaten up by the forest officials and Dhaneswar succumbed to injuries at the spot.

On Monday, Dhaneswar’s family members and villagers had blocked the road at Barsingh square demanding justice and the mob torched the Banpur beat house on fire. On the basis of the complaint lodged by Dhaneswar’s wife, the police have registered an FIR with murder charge against the DFO Athgarh, Range officer Badamba, ACF and other forest department employees.