NAYAGARH/BERHAMPUR: A 42-year-old man, Dandapani Parida, was allegedly hacked to death, while his younger brother and father sustained critical injuries in an attack by another family over a land dispute in Nayagarh district on Sunday.
Police sources said a piece of farmland of the deceased’s father Jagadev Parida of Lathipada village under Itamati police station was allegedly encroached upon by Jagu Rout’s family of Bhutadihi village. This led to a long-standing land dispute between the two families. However, a meeting was scheduled between the elders of the two villages on Monday to resolve the matter.
On Sunday afternoon, the incident occurred when Jagadev and his two sons Dandapani and Pramod were busy working at their sugarcane juice unit in Bhutadihi Chowk. Five members of the accused’s family called Jagadev from his unit and started an argument. When Dandapani and his brother Pramod tried to pacify them, Rout’s family members attacked Dandapani with a sharp weapon, leaving him in a pool of blood.
Villagers rushed the trio to Nayagarh district headquarters hospital where the doctors pronounced Dandapani dead. Pramod and Jagadev were also injured in the attack. They were shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after their condition deteriorated.
On being informed, Itamati police went to the hospital and started an investigation. A case has been registered and a search for the accused is on.
This is the second murder in Nayagarh in a week. On June 9, an elderly woman was allegedly killed by her son-in-law who slit her throat at Kotanisila village of Kasanda panchayat within Rajasunakhala outpost limits.
The deceased Namita Behura (51) was the wife of a CRPF jawan working in Subarnapur. Following a probe, police arrested 33-year-old Sarat Kumar Swain who hails from Nayagarh district. A detailed probe is underway and the exact reason behind the murder has not been ascertained yet, Nayagarh SP Rahul Jain told mediapersons.