PURI: In a shocking incident, a middle-aged man travelling in the government-run LAccMI bus from Gadishagod to Kanas block suddenly attacked his co-passengers with a dagger and injured at least four of them on Tuesday morning.
The attacker was later identified as Tophan Bhoi, 40, of Brahmanpara village near Sukal under Gadishagod police station limits. He was later captured.
Locals were angry as ambulance was not available to take the injured passengers to the hospital. After waiting for an hour, the injured were sent to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) of Puri in a private ambulance by Kanas police.
Police were examining CCTV footage of the bus to find out exact reason behind of the attack on the passengers. According to sources, Tophan boarded the bus enroute to Kanas block at Gadakharad. Inside the bus, another passenger allegedly had a physical contact with Tophan which led to a bickering. Suddenly, an enraged Tophan attacked the man with a dagger. When other passengers tried to stop him, he went after them.
A sub-inspector (SI) and ASI of Kanas police station reached the spot and tried to capture him. Tophan attacked them too but finally police overpowered him with help of locals. Tophan was drunk and uncontrollable, police said.
Since the place of the crime comes under Gadishagod police station limits, Kanas police handed over the accused to its counterparts. The accused was also seriously injured as he invited the ire of the locals and was shifted to Puri DHH for treatment.
SP Prateek Singh told the media that after Tophan is released from the hospital, police would interrogate him to find out the cause of the attack.
