Violence in Kantabanjhi over seizure of spurious drug

Bhubaneswar, July 23 (UNI) Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been promulgated and police forces deployed after an irate mob set fire to several medicine shops and damaged a number of vehicles in Kantabanji town yesterday protesting against the manufacture and marketing of spurious drugs.

The Western Orissa town wore a deserted look today as all shops and business establishments were closed following arson by the irate mob.

However, government offices and educational institutions were opened and movement of vehicular traffic remained unaffected. Nearly four battalions of the police were deployed in the town and police said the situation was under control.

So far, 17 people have been arrested on charges of rioting.

As many as ten medicine shops were torched and a number of vehicles damaged after the mob protesting against the production and marketing of spurious drugs turned violent.

Bolangir Superintendent of Police H K Lal and senior police officials of the district were camping in the area to monitor the situation.

The police have conducted raids, sealed several medicine shops and arrested three medicine dealers after a racket involving manufacturing and marketing of spurious drugs was unearthed in the town recently.

The preliminary investigation showed the tentacles of the illegal trade spread over the entire Western and Southern Orissa and has linkage with outside the state.

Panicked over people's anger and police raid in the town, some medicine dealers in Malkangiri, Rayagada and Kalahandi district have dumped spurious drugs worth lakh of rupees on the roadside.

Meanwhile, the Utkal Chemists and Druggist Association(UCDA) threatened to stop sale of medicines in Western Orissa if such vandalism continued in the area.

UNI