CUTTACK: An elderly man was killed and his wife critically injured while they protested a gang of unidentified armed miscreants from entering their house at Lendura Bhagabanpur village under Nemalo police limits in Cuttack district on Thursday night.
The deceased has been identified as Hrushikesh Muduli (69). His injured wife Kanaklata (62) has been admitted to a private hospital in Cuttack.
The incident occurred around night between 2 am to 3 am, resulting in the exposure of serious law and order situation in Cuttack’s rural areas.
According to the alleged reports, when the elderly couple opened the doors after hearing continuous knocking, four unidentified miscreants armed with knives and bhujalis (daggers) barged into their house in an attempt to rob them.
As the couple tried to resist them from entering inside, they attacked them which resulted in the death of Hrushikesh. Meanwhile, his critically injured wife fell unconscious. The miscreants then proceeded to loot items from their house after locking up their grandson Om Prakash (19) in one of the rooms.
According to Om Prakash, the miscreants had set the clothes on fire inside the house before decamping with gold and silver ornament worth lakhs.
“Our entire house was filled with smoke; I could not see what was happening as I was
locked inside the house,” he said.
Upon hearing his screams, neighbours rushed to the spot, rescued him and shifted his grandmother to a hospital. After being informed, Nemalo police rushed to the crime spot and launched an investigation. However, no leads have been made so far.
Cuttack SP (Rural) Jugal Kishore Kumar Banoth said that a special team has been formed to investigate the incident. The special team is collecting evidence with the help of a scientific team and sniffer dog, he added.
This incident comes as a shock because the miscreants committed the crime inside a village where houses are located adjacent to each other.