BHOPAL: After the attack on doctors and cops, now on duty sanitation workers have come under attack in Madhya Pradesh.
A young male sanitation worker sustained critical injuries in hand after a group of sanitation workers of which he was part were allegedly came under attack by a group of locals led by a youth named Adil in Khategaon area of Dewas district on Friday.
The workers were sanitising the area when a group of men led by Adil - armed with sticks, rods and axes - surrounded them. Before the sanitation workers could comprehend anything, the gang attacked them.
While most of the workers managed to escape unhurt, one of them sustained critical injury in hand after being hit by an axe. He was first rushed to a health centre in Khategaon, but later doctors referred him to a hospital in Dewas town.
The prime accused Adil has been arrested and efforts are underway to arrest remaining accused, sources said. They have been booked for attempt to murder and other provisions under the SC/ST Act.
Meanwhile, panic prevailed in Vinoba Nagar locality under Palasiya police station area of Indore when a coronavirus survey and screening team, comprising of teachers, Asha workers, ANMs and an Ayurvedic doctor, was confronted by one Paras, a listed criminal.
According to the neighbours, Paras was selling illicit liquor in the locality and had entered into an altercation with them on Friday. He confronted the survey team on Saturday thinking they were related to his neighbours or were plain-clothed cops.
"He snatched the cell phone of one of the survey team members and damaged it, thinking they were entering his details in the phone. Then Paras had a violent brawl with the neighbours who tried to intervene. Paras attacked the neighbours with a knife, causing injury to two of them," said staff at Palasiya police station.
According to DIG-Indore HN Chari Mishra, a police team was rushed to the locality and efforts are on to arrest the culprit.
Prior to these incidents, two female doctors were attacked in Taat Patti Bakhal COVID-19 containment zone on April 1 and a police constable assaulted in Indore's Chandan Nagar containment zone on April 7.
Twenty men were arrested in both incidents, out of which eight have been slapped with the National Security Act (NSA). Three of those slapped with the NSA in connection with attack on the cop on April 7, have tested positive for the coronavirus and are under treatment in Jabalpur and Bhopal.
Besides, two on-duty cops were attacked by five men led by history-sheeter Shahid Kabootar in Talaiya area of Bhopal on the night of April 6. Five men, including the history-sheeter, were arrested the following day.