Kendrapara: A 25-year-old man, who was detained for a petty offence and allegedly went missing from custody of Mahakalpada police, was found hanging on the staircase of a house in the vicinity of the police station.

As the news spread, agitated residents accused the cops of torturing Abinash Paitala to death in custody.

The residents also staged a road blockade from early on Sunday disrupting vehicular traffic to Mahakalpada block headquarters township.

The police recovered Paitala's body from the staircase railings of Haladhar Mallick's house in the close vicinity of the local police station.

The police had detained Paitala on Saturday on the suspicion of stealing a mobile phone.

Local residents alleged that Paitala was innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

The police, they said, had subjected him to third-degree treatment. Unable to bear the torture, he died in custody. They accused the police of hanging the body to look like a case of suicide to hide their crime.

They demanded arrests of the inspector in-charge of the police station and investigating officer for murder.

They demanded Rs 25 lakh in compensation for Paitala's kin and a job in the district police for his widow.

The road blockade at Balana village was lifted after cops assured to look into the allegations.

A probe team is looking into the allegations of the local residents, said additional superintendent of police Arun Kumar Jena. "The body has been sent for post-mortem, though preliminary inquiry points at suicide," he said.

The DGP, however, has suspended the Mahakalpada police station inspector Shyamaghana Behera for dereliction of duty.

The superintendent of police, Kendrapara, has been asked to initiate disciplinarily action against the policemen who were on duty when Paitala had allegedly escaped.