BERHAMPUR: Three police officers of Pattapur police station sustained critical injuries after allegedly being attacked by tribals near T Gobindapur village near the border between Ganjam and Gajapati districts. Irked over alleged police inaction in a case of assault, the mob resorted to stone-pelting when the officers had gone to disperse the protestors on Tuesday. Hundreds of tribals from the village gathered on the main road and blocked KV line road by placing boulders and tree trunks.
They were protesting against the attack on one Prahalad Nayak, a resident of the village and a truck driver, while he was returning from Paralakhemundi with cashew nuts to Berhampur on Monday night.
Two youths intercepted his truck near Luhagudi under Mohona police limits early on Tuesday. They allegedly tried to extort money from the driver. When Prahalad refused to give them money, they allegedly assaulted the driver. The victim managed to escape from the spot.
Meanwhile, the road blockade by the villagers left several vehicles heading towards Koraput and Berhampur stranded for at least eight hours. Pattapur police IIC Ramesh Pradhan and two ASIs, Golok Chandra Polai and Prasanna Kumar Pradhan, reached the spot along with three constables. The irate villagers allegedly hurled stones and bricks at them, injuring Pradhan and both the ASIs.
According to sources, the constables escaped from the spot when they were unable to control the mob. According to reports, some local youths took the injured to Mohona hospital. Later, they were shifted to MKCGMCH.
Ganjam SP Brijesh Rai and Berhampur Sub-Collector Sidhartha Sankar Swain reached the spot with armed police forces and persuaded the locals to withdraw the protest.Armed police forces have been deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident. Police have not made any arrests in the case so far. “Action will be taken against the pesons who attacked police,” sources said. The condition of injured policemen was stated to be stable.