BHOPAL: An Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of police died, and several other police personnel, along with some administrative staff, including a police inspector and a tehsildar, were critically injured after being allegedly attacked by a group of Kol tribals in Mauganj district of northeastern Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
The incident took place in Gadra village under Shahpur police station area, around 40 km from the Mauganj district headquarters on Saturday night.
A team from Shahpur police station had gone to the village to rescue a youth, Sunny Dwivedi (25), who had been held captive by a family of Kol tribals earlier that day.
Local sources said a group kidnapped a man named Sunny Dwivedi on Saturday suspecting that he had killed a tribal, Ashok Kumar, some months ago.
As per police records, Kumar was killed in a road accident.
Both Ashok Kol and Sunny Dwivedi were from the same Gadra village.
Taking advantage of the Holi festival, some men—possibly related to Ashok Kol’s family—forcibly took Sunny Dwivedi to their house and held him captive. During his captivity, Sunny was beaten with rods and sticks.
When the police learned of Sunny's situation, a team from Shahpur police station rushed to Gadra village to free him. However, by the time they managed to rescue Sunny, he had already died.
As the police team attempted to take several individuals into custody for questioning in connection with Sunny’s death, the group, including women, attacked the officers with bricks, rods, and sticks.
“Many cops, including tehsildar, suffered serious injuries in the attack. Only we know how we managed to escape from the village, where a large mob, taking advantage of the night, attacked us with stones, rods, and sticks,” said Dinesh Goswami, the driver of Tehsildar Kunware Lal Panika from Hanumana tehsil.
One of the injured officers, identified as Ram Charan Gautam (54), an Assistant Sub Inspector of police, succumbed to severe head injuries.
“The police were outnumbered by the attackers. Reinforcements were sent later, and the situation is now under control.
Several villagers involved in the killing of the youth and the subsequent attack on the police team, which led to the ASI’s death, have been detained for questioning,” said Saket Pandey, Acting IG of Rewa Range.
According to Mauganj District Collector Ajay Srivastava, who was on-site late into the night, “Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Gadra village under Section 163 of the BNSS, and the situation is now under control.”