Blood spills on Bhubaneswar streets, cops clueless

Four persons injured as they were hacked with sharp weapons over personal enmity at Station Square
An injured person at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday | Express
An injured person at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday | Express

BHUBANESWAR : Two armed groups from slums fought a pitched bloody battle in full public glare near the Station Square, exposing Bhubaneswar’s shoddy policing and its degenerating law and order, on Monday. The incident left four persons injured as they were hacked with sharp weapons. All of them have been hospitalized.

The warring groups were from Phalikia and Mali Sahi Masjid slums located near the City railway station. Bhubaneswar Police has a “Basti Ku Chala” outreach programme but not only did it fail to prevent this but it has now turned out that it sat pretty on the matter leading to the bloodshed.

Sources said, about four youths from Mali Sahi armed with sharp weapons intercepted Raja Behera and his brother Rakesh of Phalikia slum near their makeshift shops at Station Square only to be surprised by the duo which had come prepared to launch a counter attack.

Raja, Rakesh and at least five others allegedly chased down the four and attacked them with sharp weapons right on the road in broad daylight. Incidentally, Kharavel Nagar and Government Railway Police (GRP) stations are a few hundred meters away from the crime spot and yet none had any inkling when the groups exchanged swords in open.

The deadly attack left Sheik Sahid, Sheik Rulamin, Sheik Raja and Sheik Kamal with serious injuries. Videos of the whole episode hit the social media as police was seen trying to shift them from pools of blood on the road.

Sources added that Raja and Rakesh run two roadside makeshift shops under the jurisdiction of the GRP. Raja has criminal antecedents with cases registered against him in Kharavel Nagar and other police stations. He is also accused of illicit liquor and other contraband sale in his makeshift betel shop right under the nose of police.

When Raja came under attack about a month back and sustained head injuries, he had lodged a complaint in Capital police station against Sheik Sahid and others. Locals claim that the Mali Sahi Masjid slum youths wanted the case registered against Sheik Sahid and others to be amicably sorted out. They had reportedly approached Raja on July 25 evening but he and his brother were not interested.

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The New Indian Express
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