Bhubaneswar: After five months of peace, violence erupted in Padmakesarpur village of Patia under Mancheswar police station limits again after an elderly man and his daughterin-law were critically injured after they were attacked violently by a group of five miscreants, Wednesday night. Following the incident, the Commissionerate Police has deployed two-platoons of force to prevent any further flare-ups.
A senior cop at Mancheswar police station said Sanatan Das and his daughter-in-law Nirupama Das are presently recuperating at the SCB Medical College and Hospital. They have suffered multiple injuries on their body and head. The accused involved in the incident are still at large, he added. IIC Mancheswar police station Manas Swain said the main accused, Babula Das, arrived at Sanatan’s house with four of his associates Wednesday night to collect interest on some loans he had given to the latter sometime back. After Sanatan expressed his inability to pay, Babula allegedly assaulted him with a sword he was carrying with him. When Nirupama tried to intervene, the five miscreants bashed up the two severely. They hurled crude bombs at Sanatan’s house before fleeing, Swain added. The injured were taken to hospital by neighbours. Pratap Das, who lives in the neighbourhood, alleged that the five miscreants, who belong to one family, have been causing trouble in the village since a long time. “If anyone failed to repay the loans taken from them, they would barge into his house, ransack belongings and threaten him with dire consequences,” he alleged.
Several residents in the village claimed that the hoodlums would grab land in the event a borrower failed to repay loans. It is worth mentioning here that a group clash had broken out in the village over a similar incident in October last year in which stones and glass bottles were hurled by two rival groups over past enmity. 20 persons had suffered serious injuries in the incident. The Commissionerate Police had to clamp Section 144 of CrPC in the area and arrested 77 people in connection with the incident.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP
