Bhubaneswar, Mar 7: At least seven employees of a drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centre in Pipili locality of Odisha’s Puri were arrested for allegedly beating a mentally challenged youth to death at the centre.
The deceased has been identified as 26-year-old Subhasish, son of Nabakrushna Nayak of Bhubaneswar’s Laxmisagar area.
The arrestees have been identified as Indrajit Das (27) and Mitu Bihari (43) of Cuttack, Pradyumna Maharana (42) of Kendrapara, Tapas Kumar Sahu (39) of Deogarh, Ratan Tripathi (34) of Jagatsinghpur, Prithbi Das (38) of Sundarpada area in Bhubaneswar, and Rahul Patra (28) of Brit Colony in Baragarh.
The police have forwarded them to court and also seized a vandalized vehicle with a computer and a CCTV camera hard disk from the office.
As per reports, Subhasish was left at ‘Disha’ Foundation on December 3, 2024, as he was mentally ill. Pratap Kumar Mohanty, the organization's managing director, had assured that Subhasish would be healed completely through yoga and pranayama.
Nabakrishna stated that he and his wife would visit their son every month and had last seen him on March 3. Two days later, Pratap Kumar Mohanty called Nabakrishna and informed that his son was vomiting and had been admitted to Capital Hospital.
Moments later, Mohanty called again and said that Subhasish has passed away. By the time Nabakrishna arrived at the hospital, Mohanty had fled, leaving behind his son's body. Nabakrishna has alleged that his son was beaten to death.
The police have registered a murder case in this connection and a scientific team from Puri also visited the scene and conducted an investigation.
The autopsy report revealed that Subhashish had suffered a blow to the head with a hard stick and had internal injuries on his body.
Notably, earlier a 24-year-old youth was also beaten to death under similar circumstances at the same centre.
