Odisha youth dies while ‘evading arrest’, rights panel orders probe

The deceased, identified as Manoranjan Gedi (25), died under mysterious circumstances on Saturday after allegedly falling off a speeding motorbike in Abhaychandrapur police limits, the police said. Gedi was suspected to be involved in a drug trafficking case and a police team was trying to apprehend him for further questioning when he died, officers said.

The family of the deceased has, however, refuted the police version of events and claimed that he was killed while in police custody. “My son was not involved in any crime. This is an incident of custodial killing. His body bore blood marks on the nose and swelling on the ears,” Gedi’s father alleged.

The police have maintained that Gedi was neither arrested nor taken into custody and his death was caused due to a fall from a speeding motorbike. “Acting on a tip-off that two men were travelling on a motorcycle carrying brown sugar, we intercepted them. One of them was nabbed while the other fell from the motorcycle while trying to flee,” a senior police official said.

The OHRC has also directed the Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police (SP) to submit a report on the issue with a copy of the post-mortem report within a month. “The SP shall also specify in his report whether a request has been made to conduct a magisterial inquiry as it is an alleged death in police custody,” the commission stated.