ROURKELA: Two youths of Chhattisgarh suffered gunshot wounds after unidentified miscreants reportedly opened fire at the their pick-up van in Kutra of Sundargarh district in the wee-hours of Friday.
Police identified the injured duo as Bikram Tandon (28) and Sunil Ratnakar (32) of Sakti and Raigarh districts of Chhattisgarh. The incident took place on state highway-10 near Gangajal.
Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Himanshu Behera said doctors of the district headquarters hospital (DHH) at Sundargarh town informed police about arrival of two persons with bullet injuries. Police reached the hospital and after preliminary investigation, it was found that the injured youths were on way to Rourkela when the firing incident took place.
Behera said the duo told police that their vehicle was intercepted by around five miscreants on two motorcycles. The miscreants opened at least two rounds of fire at the moving vehicle and fled. The youths claimed that following the attack, they informed their acquaintances back in Chhattisgarh who rushed to the spot and admitted them to Sundargarh DHH before leaving with their bullet-ridden vehicle.
One of the youths had a bullet stuck in his left arm. The other suffered a gunshot wound with the bullet piercing his neck without affecting his wind or food pipes and cut injuries from broken glass pieces of the windshield. Sources said the duo would be shifted to VIMSAR, Burla for further treatment.
The SDPO said there appears to be anomalies in the statements of the injured duo and the circumstances leading to the crime. The people who took the youths to the hospital have been asked to return with the vehicle to assist in the investigation.