A police officer was killed and four others were injured after a mob attacked them in a village in Odisha's Sundergarh district where they had gone to arrest a man, police said Sunday.
The incident occurred at Dudukabahal village Saturday night when the police team was attempting to return after apprehending a man wanted in an assault case, a senior district police official told IANS.
A mob of about 70 villagers, including several women, allegedly attacked the seven-member police team and damaged their jeep and did not allow the police to take away the man against whom an arrest warrant was pending.
While five policemen managed to escape some of them with injuries, the irate residents tied assistant sub-inspector of police Nabin Patel and the driver to the seats of the jeep and forcibly pushed it to the nearby Badjori watershed.
While the driver managed to untie himself and swam back to safety, Patel was recovered dead from the water body during a search Sunday.
The jeep was also retrieved from the water. Police have detained six villagers for questioning, the official said. The district headquarters of Sundergarh is about 400 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.