ROURKELA: Chased by an angry mob which suspected him to be a goat thief, a youth jumped into Brahmani river near Koilijhar village under Chandiposh police limits on Friday afternoon.
He remains untraceable even after 30 hours with the search operation ending unsuccessfully on Saturday evening.
Police identified the youth as Md Manwar Ansari. Along with him, three others had gone to Koilijhar village, located around 45 km from Rourkela, in a four-wheeler on Friday.
Police said a group of villagers, suspecting the group to be goat thieves chased them. The youths initially tried to escape in their vehicle. However, finding the village road virtually blocked by another group of villagers waiting ahead to intercept them, they abandoned the four-wheeler and fled on foot. While Manwar jumped into the swelling Brahmani river, the other three youths were caught by the villagers, police said.
Sources said the villagers tied the three youths with ropes and thrashed them severely before police rescued them and took them for treatment.
Chandiposh IIC Srikant Khamari said the incident took place between 12 pm and 12.30 pm on Friday. On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and rescued the three youths from the villagers’ captivity.
He said a search operation, with the help of Fire Services personnel, was launched immediately and continued on Saturday, but ended without success.
The IIC said the villagers accused the youths of entering the village to steal goats, while the trio claimed they had gone there on a pleasure trip.
Khamari said a missing person’s complaint has been received and police are trying to trace Manwar.