Jajpur/Chadheidhara/Dharmasala: A driver of an earthmoving machine was hacked to death at Talajanga village under Jenapur police limits in Jajpur district over a dispute at a black stone quarry.
The deceased was identified as Gopabandhu Sethy (23), son of Anand Sethy, and a JCB operator at the black stone quarry on Bichhakhandi hill. His mutilated body was recovered from behind the Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra in Talajanga. Liquor and water bottles were recovered from near it.
His body bore several injury marks on head and back. Preliminary investigation suggested miscreants might have killed him over a dispute related to quarrying.
Illegal stone mining has been cause of dispute in the region as over 10 labourers have been crushed to death or died in explosions over the past one year.
The murder of Sethy has made the issue murkier. Extortion and mismanagement in illegal stone quarries in Dharmasala tehsil have often led to law and order problems in the area.
SP Charan Singh Meena, SDPO Kedarnath Sahu, Jenapur IIC Susant Kumar Das and Dharmasala tehsildar Prabhas Kumar Behura rushed to the spot and conducted a preliminary probe while the body was sent for post-mortem. Police registered a case.
The murder sparked tension in the panchayat with the villagers blocking the Rakhideipur road demanding arrest of the culprits. The situation was brought under control following police intervention.
Sources said Sethy had gone to attend a feast in the village but did not return home Friday night. Locals noticed his mutilated body behind the Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra and informed the police.
The incident is said to be fallout of an attack by a group of 20 miscreants at a quarry on Bichhakhandi hill over extortion January 28. The miscreants assaulted the workers in the quarry and dropped down an excavator from the hill after they failed to get the money from the quarry owner.
Three persons had then sustained critical injuries in the incident. A complaint was lodged in Jenapur police station but the police are yet to arrest anybody.
SP Meena said the accused in the Sethy murder case will be arrested soon. PNN
