Five injured in Odisha in clash over peddling of drugs
JAGATSINGHPUR: Villagers of Nalara in Balikuda clashed with a group of persons accused of peddling brown sugar, leaving five persons injured on Monday. Protesting police inaction in curbing sale and consumption of brown sugar, the villagers also set a motorcycle afire outside the Anantapur police outpost.
On Sunday night, a 23-year-old youth of the village Bachan Swain and his friend Pravash Swain met with an accident while riding back home allegedly drugged from Brahamandi village. Bachan was killed while being shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack and Swain is under treatment there.
When villagers came to know about the incident, they rushed to Brahamandi village to attack one Babu Panda and Biswajit Patra who they accused of selling drugs including brown sugar to youths in the area. Seeing the villagers, accomplices of Panda and Patra attacked them leaving five persons - Biswajit Baral, Prafulla Swain, Anil Swain, Sonu Swain and Apuli Swain - injured.
Aggrieved over the attack, villagers took the motorcycle of Panda from his house and then gheraoed the Anantapur outpost demanding action against Panda, Patra and their accomplices. Accusing police of not taking the drugs issue seriously, they set the motorcycle afire. The agitators claimed that three persons of the village have died so far due to consumption of brown sugar but police has closed its eyes to the illegal trade.
While Baral filed a police complaint against Panda and Patra for allegedly selling drugs to village youths, Panda too registered a complaint against the Nalara villagers who set his motorcycle on fire. The agitators were pacified after Balikuda IIC Sarbeswar Behera assured them of taking action against the drug peddlers.