PATNA: Five SSB personnel were held captive and assaulted by a mob in Bihar’s Kishanganj on Monday before being rescued by police and senior officers of the force.
The incident took place at Belwa village under town police station limits when a team attached to the 19th battalion of SSB had gone to arrest a drug mafia. The associates of the drug mafia held the members of the raiding team captive with the help of some residents.
All five jawans were huddled to a desolate place and thrashed by drug traffickers in the presence of residents, who abated them in committing the offence. They were rescued by a police team from the nearby police station on the initiative of senior officers.
The rescued personnel have been identified as Rajesh Sudhu, Ramchandra Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Sukhdev Kumar and Rajesh Sahani. They reached Balwa village after chasing a drug trafficker.
The drug peddler raised an alarm and told the residents that he was being kidnapped. The residents held the SSB personnel captive and assaulted them after mistaking them to be kidnappers, said sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Kishanganj, Gautam Kumar.
He said the identity of those involved in holding the SSB personnel captive and thrashing them is being ascertained. “Strict action will be initiated against the offenders after their identity is ascertained. Search operation is underway,” he told the media.
Kumar added the SSB personnel returned to the battalion headquarters after medical examination. A complaint has been lodged at Town police station on the statement of victims. However, no arrests have been made so far.