Normalcy restored in riot-ravaged Bhadrak, Crime Branch starts probe

BHUBANESWAR: As Bhadrak communal riot settled down on Sunday, the state Crime Branch said it would write to the WhatsApp and Facebook to trace the miscreants, who tried to stoke the violence by circulating provocative rumours and remarks on the two social networking sites.
"Our cyber police cell sought information from people to identify the miscreants, who spread hate message in the aftermath of the communal violence.We will also seek details from WhatsApp and Facebook about those persons. Group admins of WhatsApp will be quizzed along with senders of the messages,” special director general of police (Crime) B K Sharma told TOI.
On Saturday, chief secretary Aditya Padhi asked the Crime Branch to probe the case and take action against the outlaws, who want to stoke the violence by spreading hate message on social media. “People can send us information about such miscreants at cyberps.cidcb.orpol@nic.in,” Sharma said. Contrary to the claim by police that they shut internet services in Bhadrak on Friday, easy access to internet is still available in the town.
Earlier in the day, the state government relaxed curfew in Bhadrak for four hours from 8 am after home secretary Asit Tripathy and DGP Kunwar Brajesh Singh reviewed the situation and described the position as normal. Shops and other commercial establishments resumed business amid tight security, causing relief for residents. Temporary relaxation of curfew triggered massive traffic snarl at Bhadrak as hordes of people jostled with each other outside shops and vegetable markets. The curfew will remain in force till 7 am Monday.
The Centre on Sunday dispatched two companies of rapid action force (RAF) to Bhadrak to meet any exigencies. “The central force has been deployed at strategic locations. The situation is under control since Saturday,” DGP said. The police transferred Bhadrak Town police station’s inspector-in-charge Jadunath Jena on Sunday for his inept handling of the situation. The government had shunted collector Prabhat Bhoi on Friday.
Though the communal riot died down, the issue was the most talked-about topic on Facebook, trending at the top of the social networking site for most of Sunday. Interestingly, it was an offensive Facebook remark on Hindu deities that stoked the religious outrage in the small town on Thursday. The violence escalated on Friday with mob going on the rampage and torching several shops, leading to imposition of curfew. Police so far arrested nearly 30 persons from different communities who took the law into their hands and resorted to violence on Thursday and Friday.