Dhenkanal: Police arrested one accused from Nihalprasad area in this district Sunday afternoon in connection with the attack on seven forest personnel of Dhenkanal division by some stone mining mafia December 12.
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According to a source, the accused was identified as Kalia alias Arjun Nayak. Police also recovered the service revolver and mobile phone which was snatched from forest personnel during the fatal attack.
Acting on a tip-off that illegal stone mining mafias have been actively operating inside Karadabani forest under Nihalprasad block in the district, five teams of the forest division had conducted a raid.
Notably, over 25 mafias had attacked the forest personnel. The injured personnel were two forest guards and five forest watchers. They are undergoing treatment at Barapada primary health centre (PHC).
Nihalprasad police had immediately launched a manhunt to nab the culprits. One of the miscreants had already been identified as Pramod Lenka, Dhenkanal DFO Prakash Chand Gogineni said.
PNN
