2 min readBhubaneswarApr 8, 2026 04:33 PM IST
More than nine years after the alleged custodial death of a man, police in Odisha’s Cuttack district on Tuesday arrested two retired officers and four home guards for their alleged involvement in the killing.
The Narasinghpur police arrested Bhagaban Sahoo, a retired ASI, Pramod Kumar Patra, a retired havildar, and home guards Bhikari Naik, Dharmaraj Rana, Joginath Nayak and Maheswar Debata under Section 304/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
A senior police officer familiar with the case said the investigation had been halted and was recently reinitiated following instructions from top authorities.
“The accused were interrogated and evidence was collected, following which they were arrested. All six accused were sent to jail,” said an official.
According to police sources, the case relates to the death of Saroj Senapati (44), a resident of Malisahi under Narasinghpur police limits, in police custody on the night of December 9, 2016.
According to the police complaint lodged by the deceased’s father-in-law on December 11, 2016, at Narasinghpur police station, the accused police officers and home guards forcibly entered Saroj’s bedroom at midnight, as he was an accused in a case and had not appeared at the police station.
The complaint alleges that the accused ASI and others dragged Saroj out of his bedroom despite protests from family members and assaulted him brutally. They allegedly tied him up and took him away in a jeep. The accused officer allegedly threatened to file false cases against the family if they disclosed the assault.
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On December 10, the family came to know that Saroj had been shifted to SCB Medical College in serious condition; the police had not informed them.
The day after the raid, police also lodged a case against the deceased based on a complaint by the accused ASI, alleging that Senapati had assaulted the police team during the raid.
The police probe found that Senapati was allegedly tortured in the police lockup by the accused officials and succumbed to injuries inflicted during the raid, officials said.
The incident had triggered outrage at the time, and a case was also filed before the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
