ROURKELA: Five members of a nomadic family were brutally murdered and five others were kidnapped by a rival group near Karamdihi village of Sadar police limits in Sundargarh district on Tuesday night. Three of the victims were women.
Four children and a woman were kidnapped while four other children and an adult male member of the community were injured in the late-night attack.
At the time of the incident, around 20 family members were present at the tent where the nomad groups were staying.
The shocking episode is seen as a fallout of an illicit relationship.
Sundargarh police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the perpetrators of the crime and rescue the abducted.
Shortly after the incident, DIG of Police (Western Range) Birjesh Kumar Rai and Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwaker visited the spot and took stock of the situation. Sadar police accompanied by scientific team and dog squad seized the bodies for autopsy on Wednesday morning.
SP Diwaker informed that the victim's nomadic family were staying at tents set up in a secluded place of Karamdihi where the incident occurred late on Tuesday night.
According to a complaint lodged by Avinash Pawar, one of the injured, around four persons were involved in the bone-chilling attack while the victims and the injured persons were in their sleep.
The SP said it appeared the assailants used pointed weapons like spears, sharp weapons and sticks to carry out the indiscriminate attack in the darkness.
Pawar told police that he had developed an illicit relationship with the sister of his wife which may have led to the incident. He suspected his brother-in-law’s involvement in the crime.
Those forcefully taken away by the attackers include Pawar’s second wife, his two children and two other children of Pawar’s extended family.
Diwaker said that since the suspected rival group has no fixed location, efforts are underway to trace the attackers and nab them.
The victim's family had settled at the crime spot in tents as part of their seasonal visit and used to sell plastic mats and other items for livelihood.
The DIG said police stations of nearby Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts have been intimated to look for the culprits.