10 days after elderly couple’s murder in Cuttack, cops yet to make any arrests

CUTTACK: Ten days have passed since the murder of an elderly couple in their house under Madhupatna police station here but no arrests have been made so far.
Senior citizens here expressed anger at what they called police’s insensitivity to the seriousness of the case. “Police have turned a blind eye to our problems. Today, it is their apathy towards our safety that has allowed the culprits of the murders to get away.The latest crime shows how unsafe our lives are,” said Bishnumohandas Samanta, general secretary of Cuttack Senior Citizen Mahasangha, an organisation that has been functioning since 2013 and has more than 350 members.
Samanta said his organisation had made several requests to police to visit the homes of senior citizens every month to check their safety. “No one ever turned up. The inaction of the law enforcement authorities has left us worried,” he added.
The twin cities’ commissionerate police had opened senior citizen security cells (SCSC) in 2010. Thousands of the elderly in Cuttack had registered their names with the cells, which were to build a sense of security and confidence among senior citizens. As part of the scheme, police officers were to visit senior citizens at regular intervals to inquire about their security and grievances.
“No police officer has visited the home of any senior citizen for the past couple of years. They don’t bother about the safety and security of senior citizens. Not even police patrolling takes place with any regularity,” said Padmanav Samal, a senior citizen of Rausapatana.
Police commissioner Sudhansu Sarangi admitted that a lot more needed to be done to make the SCSCs fully functional. “There is a dearth of police personnel in the department. We will look into the matter and shore up the SCSC scheme after the Barabati match,” he said.
The murdered couple — Srinath Samal (70), a retired employee of FCI, and his wife Bidyulata — were found with their throats slit in Beleswar village.