SAMBALPUR: In a spine-chilling incident, a 22-year-old youth of Turipara under the Dhanupali police station of the city was stabbed to death by miscreants in broad daylight on Friday. Following the incident, the residents of Turipara blocked the Sambalpur-Cuttack National Highway-55 at Dhanupali chowk and staged protest demanding immediate arrest of the accused.
The deceased was identified as Bharat Padhan. According to sources, on Friday morning around 11 am, Bharat had gone to take bath in the nearby nullah when two youths came to him and after a brief but loud altercation, stabbed him on his neck. Bharat ran towards his house with the sharp weapon pierced into his neck but collapsed near his house. He was immediately rushed to the Sambalpur district headquarters hospital (DHH) and later referred to the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla but succumbed to his injuries.
After the residents of the locality came to know about his death, they staged a road blockade on National Highway-55 at Dhanupali Chowk at around 1 pm. The blockade continued for around two hours, with hundreds of vehicles stranded on either sides of the road. In between police also rushed to the spot to discuss with the agitating mob and after persuasion, the mob called-off the protest after 3 pm.
A resident of Turipara said, “A youth of our locality was murdered in public view. Police was informed immediately but no arrest has been made so far. We resorted to road blockade demanding immediate arrest of the accused who killed him and stringent action against them.”
A case was registered after Bharat’s father filed an FIR at Dhanupali police station. Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) PK Sahu said we assured the protesters the accused will be arrested soon.Sources in the police informed that though the motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained, the accused involved in the incident have already been identified and a manhunt launched to nab them.