Cuttack, Jan. 28: Orissa High Court today directed the state government to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of Kuldeep Mohapatra, who had died in police custody in Bhubaneswar on June 5, 2012.

The court further said that the compensation amount would be collected from the salary of the erring official.

The court said the state government was "vicariously liable" to pay the compensation as there was clear negligence on the part of the police in the case.

The directive was issued while adjudicating on the petition of Rabindranath Mohapatra who alleged that his son was not given timely medical attention though his condition was far from healthy when he was brought to Saheed Nagar police station that day.

Rabindranath had sought a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for his son's death. Disposing of the petition, the single-judge bench of Justice B.R. Sarangi directed the state government to pay the compensation within four months.

"In his order, Justice Sarangi further specified that the state exchequer should not be burdened for payment of the compensation. Instead, the compensation amount should be collected from the erring official," Rabindranath's counsel Ranjit Mohanty said.

The court expected the home department to conduct an inquiry to identify the police personnel who were responsible for the negligence in giving timely medical attention to Kuldeep.

"The high court awarded the compensation on the basis of the report of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) of Bhubaneswar and the CBI on the custody death," Mohanty said.

On August 18, 2014, the high court had asked the CBI to probe into the case. The CBI submitted its report on April 23, 2015.

According to the case records, 27-year-old Kuldeep was arrested by the Saheed Nagar police on June 5, 2012 for allegedly extorting money from a truck driver by posing as a policeman. Kuldeep was declared dead on arrival at Capital Hospital where the police had sent him for medical check-up before producing him in court.

It was alleged that the police had not shifted Kuldeep to hospital immediately after his arrest even as he was visibly ill after being beaten up by crowd.

Bowing to pressure from various quarters, the police transferred the then inspector in charge of Saheed Nagar police station, suspended two assistant sub-inspectors who were on duty that day and asked the SDJM of Cuttack to inquire into the death.