An enraged mob in Odisha's Kandhamal district set fire to a police station on Saturday in protest of police's suspected participation in ganja smuggling, according to a senior official, news agency PTI reported. Some police officers were injured in an incident at Phiringia Police Station when locals rushed there, suspecting some inspectors of "being involved in the smuggling" of contraband and torching the station.
They trashed the police station's furnishings and set fire to various papers, according to Southern Range IG Satyabrata Bhoi.
Locals also stopped the Phulbani-Phiringia-Baliguda route for many hours, demanding action against the police station's inspector-in-charge and other officials for allegedly "being involved in the smuggling of ganja," a drugs substance.
According to another officer, other police officers who went to the road blockade location to speak with the agitators were also chased away.
“A group of people entered the Phiringia Police Station, ransacked furniture there and set the PS on fire. Some police personnel were injured in the incident," Bhoi was quoted by PTI in its report.
He stated that the allegations against the local inspector-in-charge and two other police officers will be thoroughly investigated.
A huge detachment of police was despatched there to maintain peace and order, and the Kandhamal SP, accompanied by force, was on his way to Phiringia, he added. “Some ganja peddlers are suspected to have been involved in the violence at the Phiringia Police Station. The situation is now under control,” Bhoi said.
The agitators said that top police authorities were made aware of the ganja smuggling, but "no action was taken against the inspector-in-charge and two other police personnel who were caught by villagers of Kambaguda along with the smuggled ganja from a police van."