The Crime Branch of the Odisha Police has replaced the officer supervising the investigation into the death of a 20-year-old college student, who set herself on fire last month after her complaints of sexual harassment by a professor were allegedly ignored.
The move comes days after the Crime Branch arrested two students in the case. Late on August 3, police arrested Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) state office-bearer Subhra Sambit Nayak and Jyotiprakash Biswal (who got injured while trying to save the victim) and charged them with abetment of suicide. Before this, assistant professor Samir Kumar Sahu and college principal Dillip Kumar Ghose had been arrested.
The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday questioned the decision to remove the supervising officer and linked the move with the ABVP members’ arrest.
In a press conference, BJD MLA Gautam Buddha Das alleged that the replacement of an IG rank officer with a junior officer soon after the arrest of two ABVP activists “clearly indicates that there has been pressure on the Crime Branch from the BJP government in the state”.
“The supervising officer has been replaced to derail the investigation and to protect the conspirators,” Das alleged.
The ABVP, a student organisation associated with the RSS, had condemned the arrest of Nayak and Biswal and alleged “biased action” by the police and a “deep political conspiracy”.
The 20-year-old student of a prominent college in Balasore died on July 12, and the incident provoked widespread outrage. On July 16, the case was soon handed over to the Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW) of the Crime Branch. S Shyni, a 2001-batch IPS officer who heads the CAW&CW, was assigned to supervise the probe.
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On August 5, the Crime Branch issued an office order, assigning Anirudha Routray, SP of another wing of the Crime Branch and junior to Shyni, as supervisor of the investigation.
“The investigation officer shall submit the progress report on the investigation conducted so far in the case, along with all case records and evidence, to SP Anirudha Routray, who along with his comments and opinion, (shall) forward the same to DIG, CID-CB for perusal and for further placing the same before DGP, Crime,” read the order.
No specific reason has been cited for the change.
“I have come to review the progress of the case, and I will submit a report to the DG, Crime Branch,” Routray told reporters on Thursday.
