CUTTACK: Around 38 hours after four excise personnel were injured in an attack by the liquor mafia in Dalua reserve forest, police on Saturday arrested one person in connection with the incident. The accused is Kamala Lochan Das. Based on an FIR filed by excise inspector Keshab Chandra Das against 29 persons at Khuntuni police station, a case has been registered under sections 147, 148, 323, 324, 325, 307, 353, 332, 335, 354, 294,506 and 149 of IPC and section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Khuntuni IIC Bhabani Shankar Khuntia said raids are being conducted and efforts are on to nab the others involved in the involved. Meanwhile, locals said the liquor mafia has been emboldened by police inaction.
The mafia not only operates illicit country liquor breweries but also smuggles timber and high-grade coal in trucks on NH-55 passing through Khuntuni. Such illegal activities are carried out in collusion with local police and a few politicians, they alleged.
On April 4, the mafia involved in running unauthorised coal depots attacked mines officials during a raid on a depot along NH-55 near Krushnasyampur Nua Sahi. While the coal mafia had vandalised a vehicle of the Mines department, two staff had sustained injuries in the attack.