Bhubaneswar, July 22: Police commissioner R.P. Sharma today said that the team formed by him to look into the attack on advocate Nihar Ranjan Sethy on July 16 had collected some video footage from various sources about the incident.

The police commissioner initiated action after yesterday’s violent protest by lawyers at Kalpana Square. Angry lawyers had set a police vehicle on fire. The commissioner showed video footages of Sethy emerging out of a hotel on Janpath allegedly in an inebriated state and his treatment at Capital Hospital.

Besides, police also presented the telephonic conversation of a man calling up police control room after seeing Sethy lying on the roadside between Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh. The conversation between PCR van cops, control room staff and officer on night duty at Sahid Nagar police station was also played out.

“We have examined several people, including the man who was the first to spot Sethy lying on the roadside. We have also spoken to the security staff and doctor of Capital Hospital and the auto driver who dropped him his home. Though he has written in his complaint that he was hit in his private parts, he did not complain about it before the doctor at Capital Hospital,” Sharma said adding that the footages had been handed over to the Bhubaneswar Bar Association.

“We are trying to investigate how Sethy came to Vani Vihar-Rasulgarh Road and what he was doing,” he said.

President of the Bhubaneswar Bar Association, Tarunkanti Mohapatra said the police were using the footage to save their men involved in the assault on the advocate.

Mohapatra said: “They do not have any video footage to show the assault on Sethy. Why a lawyer would question policemen if they did not really attack him?”

“Though we do not have faith in police investigation, we will wait for 48 hours, as the commissioner has assured to arrest the culprits. If that does not happen, we will hold our general body meeting and decide the future course of action,” Mohapatra said.

Lawyers in Orissa High Court abstained from work in the post-lunch session today in support of the protest agitation by Bhubaneswar Bar Association against brutal attack by the police on a member of the association. The High Court Bar Association has further decided to observe cease-work tomorrow. Secretary of the association Bidyadhar Pradhan said: “We resolved to abstain from court work from 2pm today and whole day tomorrow as a mark of solidarity with the Bhubaneswar Bar Association”.