Berhampur artist crafts mini idol of Lord in golden attire
Odisha woman worried about sons safety in West African, Mali
Berhampur: A woman in Odishas Ganjam district has moved police stating that she is unable to contact her son, who is working at a cement factory in the West African country of Mali, an official said on Saturday. P Narasama, a resident of Samarajhol village under Hinjili police station limits, said she is worried about Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News , Technology , Entertainment , Sports , Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS .
Odisha Man Stabs Lover To Death In Lodge, Surrenders Before Cops
A man allegedly killed his lover after inviting her to a lodge in Odisha's Berhampur town and later surrendered to police, officials said on Wednesday.
Women pull Devi Subhadras chariot in Berhampur
Two Dalit men forced to eat grass on cattle smuggling charge, Rahul Gandhi demands action
BERHAMPUR: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday demanded strong action against those who forced two dalit youths to walk on knees, eat grass and drink dirty water in a village of Ganjam district on Sunday. The two were brutally tortured, half tonsured, forced to eat grass and drink drain water after being falsely accused of cattle smuggling. The shocking incident took place in broad daylight at Kharigumma village under Dharakote block on Sunday. Stating that the incident is not only inhuman, the Congress leader said that it is a mirror for those who say caste is no longer an issue. Every incident that trample the dignity of dalits is an attack on Baba Saheb's constitution and a conspiracy against equality, justice and humanity, he added. Such incidents are becoming common in BJP-ruled states. Atrocities against SC, ST and women have increased worrisome manner especially in Odisha. The culprits should be arrested and severely punished. The country will run by the Constitution, not by Manusmriti, he added. Sources said the victims, Bulu Nayak (52) and Babul Nayak (43) of Singipur, purchased a cow and two calves from Haripur as part of dowry arrangement of a family's marriage ceremony and were bringing the cattle to their village on a cargo auto-rickshaw. A group of locals intercepted them at Kharigumma, accusing them of transporting cattle illegally. The group snatched their mobile phones and cash and demanded Rs 30,000 to release the animals. When the duo refused, the miscreants tied their limbs, thrashed them, partially shaved their heads at a local salon, forced them to crawl for nearly two km to Jahada village. The victims were then allegedly forced to consume grass and drain water at Jahada village chowk. Subsequently, a villager informed a local leader who reached the spot to release them but demanded Rs 30,000 for the purpose. Despite suffering injuries on head and other parts of the body due to the assault, the two victims managed to escape from the spot and reached their village. After receiving preliminary treatment at the local hospital, they lodged a complaint with Dharakote police. However, as the police were reportedly busy with VVIP duty on Sunday, the FIR was accepted late in the night. As the news of the inhuman incident spread, leaders of Ganjam unit of Dalit Mahasabha reached Singipur and held at a protest meeting on Monday. Expressing concern over rise in atrocities against dalits during the one-year rule of BJP in the state, they accused the government of failing to curb the rising lawlessness in Ganjam. Demanding arrest of the culprits involved in the attack on the two dalit men, the Mahasabha leaders also sought immediate rescue of the cattle from the captivity of the attackers. Ganjam SP Subhendu Patra said some villagers of Khariguma and Jahada assaulted the victims on suspicion of cattle smuggling. Their main purpose was money extortion.When the victims didn't pay, the culprits assaulted them. So far, nine persons has been detained for questioning. All the culprits involved in the incident would be nabbed soon, he added.
Odisha: Dalit men half-tonsured, assaulted over cattle smuggling claim
Berhampur: Two Dalit men in Odishas Ganjam district were half-tonsured, assaulted and forced to crawl on their knees and consume grass and drain water on suspicion of cattle smuggling, police claimed on Monday. The incident, which occurred at Jahada in Kharigumma village under Dharakote police station limits on Sunday, has triggered widespread outrage in political Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News , Technology , Entertainment , Sports , Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS .
College student gang raped in Odisha; 10 including 6 minors held
A 20-year-old college student was gang-raped on Odishas Gopalpur beach by three men. The incident occurred in Ganjam district on Sunday evening, June 14. Police have arrested 10 people, including four adults and six minors. Police said that the victim, hailing from Berhampur, was out with her male friend when they were attacked by the Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News , Technology , Entertainment , Sports , Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS .
The Gopalpur police have arrested all 10 suspects involved in the gang rape of a college student at Gopalpur beach on Sunday, Berhampur Superintendent of Police Saravana Vivek M. said on Tuesday.
Probe ordered after five patients die at Odisha hospital due to alleged medical negligence
KORAPUT: Two investigations were ordered after five patients died due to alleged negligence at the state-run Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Odisha's Koraput, officials said on Wednesday. Two men and three women died on Tuesday night within a short period. Their families alleged that they were administered injections, following which the patients died. The deceased persons were identified as Shukra Majhi, Rukuni Pentia, Phulmati Majhi, Bhagaban Parija and Bati Khara. SLNMCH's superintendent Susanta Kumar Sahu said a departmental inquiry has been ordered. We have convened a meeting of all departmental heads. The patients who died on Tuesday night were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. Prima facie, the deaths seem not to have been caused by any wrong injection. However, we will inquire into the allegations, he said. Sahu said the patients in the ICU were in a serious condition and were administered the injection to control their dropping blood pressure. He said two of the five deceased patients suffered abdominal injuries, while another suffered from liver perforation. We suspect they died due to bleeding and septicemia. The fourth patient was being treated for stage 4 cancer, and the fifth was an accident victim, who was referred from Jeypore, he said. Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Santosh Mishra also ordered a separate inquiry into the allegations. A five-member team, comprising three doctors from MKCG Medical College Hospital in Berhampur and two from SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, will probe the allegations, he said. The team has been asked to submit the report by Thursday, Mishra said. The families of the deceased held a demonstration outside the hospital, following which police were deployed. The bodies were handed over to the families after post-mortem examination. Each family was given a cheque of Rs 10,000 from the district Red Cross fund. Arrangements were also made to transport the bodies to the villages of the deceased patients, a district official said. Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam demanded Rs 25 lakh each as compensation for the families of the deceased.
KEONJHAR: Mahendra Hembram, one of the convicts in the 1999 high-profile triple murder case of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, was released from Keonjhar jail in Odisha on Wednesday after serving 25 years. Now 50 years old, Hembram was released from prison on the grounds of good behaviour during his incarceration. Hembram has been released following a decision by the State Sentence Review Board. The prison directorate informed about it in a letter on Tuesday. He has been released after 25 years because of good behaviour in accordance with the rules, said Jailer Manaswini Naik. Jail authorities gave Hembram a cordial farewell, garlanding him as a 'mark of recognition for his good conduct' during his prison term. An official said Hembram was handed over a bank passbook, where his earnings from prison labour had been deposited. I spent 25 years in jail after being falsely implicated in an incident related to religious conversion. Today, I have been released, Hembram told reporters outside the jail. Hembram and Bajrang Dal leader Dara Singh, alias Rabindra Pal Singh, were convicted of the brutal murders of Staines and his sons -Philip (10) and Timothy (6) -who were burned alive by a mob led by Singh on the night of January 21, 1999. A mob led by Singh attacked Staines and his sons while they slept in their station wagon and then set the vehicle on fire. When they tried to escape, the mob, armed with lathis, prevented them from getting out, leading to their deaths. Their skeletal remains were later recovered. Staines and his wife Gladys worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary organisation and cared for leprosy patients. A total of 14 persons, including Singh and Hembram, were accused in the gruesome case. However, 12 of them were acquitted, while Singh and Hembram were sentenced to life imprisonment. Hembram, hailing from Manoharpur village, was arrested in 1999, while Dara Singh was picked up on January 31, 2000, by then Mayurbhanj SP Y B Khurania, who is now the DGP. Initially kept as an undertrial prisoner at Jharpada Jail in Bhubaneswar, Hembram was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 22, 2003. Over the years, Hembram was incarcerated in several facilities, including Jharpada, Jamujhari Open Air Jail (Bhubaneswar), and jails in Cuttack, Berhampur, Baripada, Anandpur Sub-Jail, before being transferred to Keonjhar Jail on September 28, 2011. He remained there until his release. During the trial at the CBI court in Bhubaneswar on February 1, 2002, Hembram reportedly lost mental composure and declared himself the sole culprit and claimed that others were innocent. Trial started on March 1, 2001 at the District and Sessions Court in Khurda, which was designated as a CBI court. Evidence against Dara Singh was confirmed when one of the accused persons, Dayanidhi Patra, told the trial court that he was present when he (Dara Singh) set fire to the vehicle. The trial concluded on August 18, 2003, with Judge Mahendra Patnaik sentencing Dara Singh and 12 others, while acquitting Anirudha Dandapat, alias Andha Nayak, for lack of evidence. On September 22, 2003, the court awarded Dara Singh the death penalty and sentenced 12 others to life imprisonment. However, in 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court. Dara Singh, currently serving a life sentence, filed a mercy petition in the Supreme Court in August 2024 seeking release. Another mercy plea was also submitted to the President of India. Meanwhile, on March 19, 2025, the Supreme Court directed the Odisha government to take a decision on the remission plea of a epenting Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who continues to serve his sentence for the murders of Staines and his sons.
Kerala: Violence against Christians likely to hit BJP's outreach programmes to woo the community
The Bajrang Dal's attack on a Malayali Catholic priest and the brutal police assault on another priest from Kerala in Jabalpur and Berhampur, both of which are in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Odisha respectively, have sparked widespread resentment among the Christian community in the state.
