Four SOG jawans arrested for killing a man: Naveen

The Odisha Police today arrested four Special Operations Group (SOG) jawans on charges of killing a man and injuring another person in their camp at Soseng village in Nuapada district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.
Making a statement in the Assembly, Patnaik said the four personnel of the SOG were suspended and arrested after recovery of the body of Chittaranjan Sahu.
The injured has been identified as Nutan Naik.
Terming the death of Sahu and injury of Naik as an "extremely unfortunate incident," Patnaik said the government has decided to give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and bear the entire cost of treatment of the injured Nutan Naik.

"I, on my behalf and the members of this House, express our deepest condolence to the family members of Chittaranjan Sahu for this extremely unfortunate incident," Patnaik said.
Stating that a case of theft was informed to the SOG unit deployed in Soseng village near the Sunabeda Reserve Forest, a highly sensitive Maoist affected area, the Chief Minister said the SOG personnel and villagers had apprehended the three suspects including the deceased Sahu, who confessed to the crime.

The police also recovered the stolen items, he said.
The Government got an information that the SOG unit was routinely informed of the crime in view of the fact that the police station station was at a distance of about 40 km, Patnaik said.

Some SOG personnel allegedly assaulted the suspects, resulting to the injury of Nutan Naik and the death of Chittaranjan Sahu, he said adding, "The incident is being investigated by DIG (South Western Range), Koraput. The DIG is camping at Nuapada. Komna Police Station has registered a case on August 18 on the report of the father of the deceased on alleged torture and disappearance of Sahu," Patnaik told the House.
"Following recovery of the body, they (jawans) have been charged with murder and causing disappearance of evidence. The government will take stringent action against those responsible. No one will be spared," he said.

After suspension of the four arrested SOG jawans, the local judicial magistrate would conduct an inquiry into the alleged incident and responsibility would be fixed, he said.
Disciplinary action involving major penalties would also be initiated, Patnaik added.