A routine anti-liquor crackdown by the Raurkela Excise Department took a tragic turn in Soroda village under the Bisra police limits, when a 48-year-old local resident suffered a fatal heart attack during the search operation.
The incident has triggered widespread outrage, with the victim’s family holding the excise officials directly responsible for his sudden demise.
The deceased has been identified as Bishnu Sethi. According to local reports, excise officials and staff arrived in two vehicles at Soroda’s Dhobi Toli to seize illicit country-made mahua liquor. Witnesses claim that officials entered Sethi’s home unexpectedly, with a female staff member reportedly throwing utensils aside inside the kitchen during the search. Amid the ensuing chaos and confrontation, Sethi suddenly collapsed inside the house after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Frightened family members rushed him immediately to the Rourkela Government Hospital, where attending doctors pronounced him brought dead. Grief-stricken and angry, the family initially brought Sethi’s body back to the excise office to demand accountability, alleging that the aggressive raid caused the fatal shock. Senior excise officials intervened, pacifying the grieving relatives before they proceeded to the Bisra Police Station.
Acting on a complaint, Bisra Police registered an unnatural death case (Case No. 70), sent the body for an autopsy at the Community Health Centre, and subsequently handed it over to the family following the post-mortem. A full-scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the raid is currently underway.
Meanwhile, Excise Inspector Druba Dal Biswal strongly refuted the allegations, stating that the department’s personnel were in no way responsible for Sethi’s death. According to the inspector, Sethi had pre-existing cardiac issues and collapsed after returning home from work, independent of the raid’s actions. As a gesture of support, the department extended financial assistance of ten thousand rupees to the bereaved family, alongside additional relief provided through the Red Cross.
Adding to the local tension, villagers also alleged that excise personnel arbitrarily detained a local woman from Mera Toli who had simply gone to fetch water from a well, further escalating community grievances against the handling of the operation.
