JAGATSINGHPUR: Raghunathpur police arrested 10 persons at Purnabasant following an altercation late on Friday night when they allegedly detained a police jeep and assaulted officers attempting to rescue two suspected mobile phone thieves.
As per police, the mobile phone was stolen from one Pratap Muduli of Gamahapur village last Wednesday. Suspecting Saumendra Das (24) of Jaipur village and his associate Prasant Behera (39) of involvement in the case, the villagers detained them in Purnabasant on Thursday, threatening to kill them if the stolen phone was not returned.
As soon as police was informed, a team led by assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sanjay Kumar Dandpat reached the spot to rescue the suspects. However, the villagers refused to release them, demanding the return of the stolen phone before handing over the suspects. The situation escalated as the crowd misbehaved with the police, accusing them of failing to recover the phone and ultimately detaining the officers and their vehicle.
The situation was brought under control when IIC Sushanta Kumar Sethi reached and successfully rescued the police personnel from the agitated villagers.
Following the incident, ASI Dandpat filed an FIR against the villagers for detaining the police vehicle and assaulting the officers. A case was registered against 40 to 50 people involved.
IIC Sushanta Kumar Sethi confirmed that 10 people including Ashok Moharana, Prasan Kumar Sethy, Jagannath Swain, Bharat Sethy, and one unidentified person, were arrested. They have been forwarded to court for further proceedings.